


Fireproof

by latinagaypresident



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/F, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-09 15:32:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 29,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4354430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latinagaypresident/pseuds/latinagaypresident
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An infectious disease has spread across the world, leaving the globe desolate, minus a few valiant survivors and undead that roam searching for flesh. When vampire siblings William Luce and Carmilla Karnstein team up with Laura Hollis and her ragtag band of friends and family in attempts to survive, they are forced to make morally grey decisions while trying to remember who they are in the process. </p><p>There are no heroes to this piece.</p><p>Or the story of a zombie apocalypse where Kirsch and Danny are forced to confront their savior complex, Laura needs girl the hell up, and Carmilla is even more broody and gay than you imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings will be at the beginning of each chapter. Graphic depiction of violence is to be expected.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Very brief mention of suicide, dubious consent, and implied assault

Carmilla POV 

All I remember from that night was the pain, the insurmountable pain; it first pierced my heart and then shortly after ran through my entire body. I remember feeling like I was being torn apart both slowly and rapidly at the same time. As if I was being ripped apart and compressed, drowned and suffocated, beaten and left for dead. The entire experience was inexplicably painful. 

When I awoke, a strange woman was caressing the side of my face. Her eyes looked aged beyond her body.

“Who are you? Where am I?”  I managed. I felt weak and _hungry,_ hungrier than I have ever been in my life. She smiled softly down at me and continued caressing me. She slowly ran her knuckles against my cheek. 

“You’re quite the beautiful girl.” She said in a breathy voice.  

I felt too weak to respond. I looked around the room I was in. While it was strange that there were no servants in the room, it was clear there were servants in the house. I could hear low whispering and the sounds of water boiling out side the room I was in. The room I was in had eloquent tapestries along the walls in green and yellow hues. There were paintings of landscapes I could not even dreamt of, and portraits that clearly dated back centuries.

This woman clearly came from nobility, and as a result I trusted her without question.

[I would soon realize how inappropriately placed my trust was.] 

“Who are you?” I asked again. And she gave me a soft smile and responded; “I am the one who will care for you when the rest of the world detests you. A mother, of sorts, if you will.” 

Before I could question her further I heard muffled screams approaching and footsteps. I looked at the woman in the eyes and before I could voice my concern she whispered, “Darling, you were assaulted and murdered, I turned you into something much greater than you ever were in life, and now you need to eat. Don’t fight the urge. You deserve this world, and it is yours for the taking”.

I didn’t understand the point she was making, but I was starving, “What do you have for me to eat?” I asked.

Suddenly the door burst open and a screaming woman was thrown in.

With unknown energy, I leaped to my feet “what are you—“ I spoke as two women sliced her throat. Horrified, I rushed to help her, as she gasped for air. I failed to notice the adrenaline pumping through me until she fell to the floor and there was blood everywhere. 

For some reason unbeknownst to me the hunger I felt only continued to grow. She gasped, “Please help me.” I look up to my newfound mother and she gives me the first smile that has reached her eyes since I met her and demanded, “You heard her, help her.” 

I looked back at the girl and all of sudden the overwhelming hunger consumed me and everything went black. 

___ 

 I loved the freedom that being a vampire permitted me. I never held my relationship to morality to any particular value. Life as a vampire offered me so much more than human life ever offered. I felt trapped by the aristocracy and nobility, destined to marry a man more than double my age. Vampirism allowed me all the perks of wealth with none of the drawbacks.  I saw all the portraits I saw on the wall the day of my “birth” in person, and the replicas did not do them justice. I would never of had the opportunity to experience such beauty had I not been turned into a vampire. I learned numerous different languages, mastered the many skills and perks that come along with vampirism, and indulged all of my cravings (for blood, sex, and power) to the fullest. Life, if one could still call it that, had never grander. However, as we traveled the East mother grew tired of my… rebelliousness.

I adored attending extravagant parties and bedding beautiful women. The thrill of the chase was exhilarating, especially in the 18th century. I prided myself in being the most talented at stealing young girls for mother’s “needs”, whatever that meant.  I never paid much attention to what exactly mother was doing to the girls she asked me to capture. Mother had quite a temper when she felt threatened or challenged—fear of her rage made me think twice about questioning her, even about the most adorable girls. Furthermore, I didn’t particularly care about what happened to them. A life of a vampire is free of commitments to humans, unless you’re a naïve fool, but I’ll get into that later.

I had been sleeping with a princess and while it wasn’t serious, I had no intention of handing her over to maman. To be honest, maman would probably be furious if I did lure her. Too many people would ask questions if someone of such high status went missing after numerous, extensive “study sessions” with me.

In hindsight, I should’ve known better, but there is a thrill to bedding royalty, or perhaps it was the high-risk affair we were having that was all too enticing. Either way, it was a naïve decision to get involved with her, and a downright idiotic decision to be involved with her multiple times, but the 18th century brought out the worst side of me.

Upon retrospection, I wish I had been more attentive to mother’s mood swings and feelings, because it would have saved me a lot of pain. The girl wasn’t even worth it; I don’t even recall her name. To me she was “princess” not because of her status, but because I was merely too lazy to actually learn her name.

One night we secretly made our way out of a ball her parents organized for her (the princess was looking for potential suitors, how ironic), and into her garden. We snuck to the back of the garden and leaned against a tall wall covered in vine, hidden by a number of low hanging oak trees.

While I was dying to get both of us out of these over sized cages known as “dresses”, we just conversed. I played with her hands, running my finger tips down the inside of her fingers to her palm and up again while she badgered me with questions that hinted at her feelings for me. I distinctly recall her asking me in a god-awful smitten tone “Marcilla darling, do you believe in fate?”

To which I flatly responded with a laugh, “No.”

She looked at me with a frown, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the wall. “Dance with me, Princess.”

Her scowl lifted up into a smile, “There is no music, Marcilla." 

I smiled and spun her around a few times. She laughed loudly as I grabbed her waist and led her against the wall. Her laughter stopped once I lightly rested my forehead on hers, but her smile never faltered.

“You’re right, maybe we should do something else then?” I said suggestively. I was about to kiss her, but I realized her eyes were searching for something in mine. I pulled back slightly, to her dismay. “What is wrong?” I asked her.

“I love you.” 

I wasn’t fazed. I didn’t love her, and I wouldn’t lie to her. It’s not that I had a moral qualm with lying (I don’t have any moral qualms). Rather, I didn’t care what anyone thought, so the truth came naturally. Truth and lies were tools of convenience versus some kind of moral apparatuses. I lied when I deemed it necessary.

It was unnecessary.

I kissed her instead.

Before I could deepen the kiss, I was suddenly thrown off of her into a tree branch to land in a bed of thorny roses. I would have probably complained about the pain for hours, but I was quickly distracted by the sound of a loud crack. I looked over and saw mother standing over the princesses limp body on the floor—her neck gruesomely and jarringly twisted. Her eyes open in horror, even after death. 

I was furious.

“Mother! You didn’t have to murder her, she—“, mother slammed me against the wall as I tried to finish my protest.

“You care for no one, unless I tell you to care for them.” She hissed before she grabbed my face roughly and kissed me. It wasn’t of desire, but of control. It told me I was going to spend the night in maman’s bed. I wonder if the women I courted felt this way. It’s utterly disgusting. Mother let me go and whispered, “You are mine, I love you so very much. You are a diamond; you need me to cut you perfectly, darling. Because without it’s owner, what is diamond, but a rock?” As she finished her statement mother sank her teeth sharply into my neck and drank greedily as if to affirm that I have absolutely no agency, especially over my own body. 

That wasn’t the first night she took me to bed, but it was when I realized mother turned me not because she wanted to grant me the world, but because she wanted to control me. She saw something in me that she wanted to tame, to contain, and to _own_. I don’t really recall how mother was able to cover up her murder, especially since people saw me leave with the princess.

Mother can really do anything.

___ 

Around the late 1800’s mother decided it was time for us to relocate west to the New World. We traveled from university to university as to not strike up attention to us when girls went missing. We stayed at one location for a few years at most. Depending on how misogynistic the institution we were at was, mother was either a professor’s assistant or a professor. Considering the period that decided to move to the new world, mother generally had one of her “children” act as a professor, while she was hired as his assistant. 

As time went on and social stigma around women in position of intellectual prowess changed, her facade was less and less required. Eventually, mother was able to pick from the most state of the art university laboratories to work in with large staffs. Will and I became students at said universities. We were to continue our job of finding suitable girls for maman. It took me only a few years to realize what mother was doing with the girls we lured for her.

She was experimenting on them.

I’m not sure what mother experimented for, but I knew she experimented on them. Mother had always been obsessed with perfection. She always boasted that Vampires were the creatures of perfection, our only flaw being that we were detrimentally dependent on humans. Mother _hated_ humans. They were as imperfect as a creature could get. I suppose mother thought if she could perfect even the most imperfect creature, the creator of that creature would be infallible. I didn’t really care why or who mother was experimenting on. They were none of my concern, especially after mother made it so clear that emotional attachments, specifically to humans, were forbidden.

I didn’t care about mother’s experiments. 

That was, until I met Ell.

In the 1940’s, mother took control of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) post in San Francisco. Mother was ecstatic. Experiments became more top secret, complex, and the need for suitable test subjects was dire. William and I change our recruitment tactics; while we continued to hunted for people at universities, we offered them careers at the CDC working on complex and important projects to “promote the good of mankind”, as mother would often order us to say. We recruited from all the science departments at the universities we “attended” and we indiscriminately recruited when it came to gender or age. However, the criteria we did have were minimal family and a strong dedication to their degree and their career. Mother would accept nothing less than absolute loyalty and having a large family would draw too many questions when they were no longer allowed to leave the CDC.

While we were never in charge of providing the specifics of the projects they would be working on, our spiel was usually enough to get them to follow up with maman. Somehow, mother was always able to get them to accept. Once they accepted, they would start working on mother’s many projects, excited and enthused about the progress they were making in their respective scientific fields, but were disheartened when they inevitably saw their progress halted. When mother saw them at their weakest, when she saw their eyes starved for the scientific breakthrough that was so close they could almost taste it, that’s when mother proposed using their own bodies as experiments. Mother would butter them up – claiming that there were minimal risks, that they would be heroes in the scientific community, and they would have complete agency of the experiments.

[These were all lies.]

But, no one said no to mother. She was playing God, and everyone knows those who disobey the lord are punished severely.

So people accepted, they were experimented on for a while, and they usually disappeared.

Generally things went in that order without concern, except two occasions. 

The first was one of William’s recruits. He had ethical qualms with the experiment Mother was asking of him, but he usually silenced himself for fear of harming his career. Once mother asked him to undergo experiments on himself, he exploded. He yelled at maman saying she was an unethical beast, and he was going to go to all the news outlets and academic integrity boards and hell, even the _government_ , to report the criminal, unethical, and just down right fucked up things that were happening at the CDC under her watch. She was not only going to have her name and career ruined, but he would going to make sure she ended up beyond bars for the rest of her life. 

I scoffed at this point, if only he knew.

I had secondhand fear for the man. Mother took a deep breath and grinned at the man, but her eyes remained as hollow as the day I first met her.

She asked, with not one ounce of venom in her voice, “Charles, my boy, would you like to discuss this in my office?” She smiled as she continued, “it seems that we have come to a misunderstanding. I do apologize for any discomfort I’ve caused you.”

Kindness from mother was equally terrifying as it was false.                                                                                  

The last that I saw of that man was when he followed maman into her office. I can only speculate what happened to him after that. Perhaps mother murdered him there, drank him dry. Perhaps she tortured him for a while for his insolence. Or maybe she used him for the experiments she forbids even her most trusted scientists from seeing. The latter sounds like the most gruesome option.

Senseless William had me checking all of his recruits for a year after that incident. I agreed only because mother’s temper afterwards was unbearable and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if something like that happened again.

The second exception was in the case of Ell.

Ell was my recruit from Stanford. She was top of her class, pursuing her doctorate in evolutionary biology. She was brilliant in more ways than one, and most likely would have been a scientist that would have gone down in history books. She was a bright- illuminating knowledge and love everywhere she went, she would’ve shone light on some of the world’s most pandemic diseases, cured the incurable, stop the unstoppable. She was the wind and the world was her sea and she would have blown it towards the direction of paradise.

That is had she not met me.

Because I had been in the area for so long, acquaintances were finding it odd that I was not aging. I had to change my identity every decade or so to make sure no one would catch onto my immortality.

When Ell met me, I was going by Carmilla.

I fell in love with her almost instantly.

We spent a semester together. I learned almost everything about Ell that she was willing to share, which, to my delight, was a lot. It’s fascinating how humans never tire of talking about themselves, even though their lives are so short. How many experiences could someone gather in 25 short years? While she was chatty, she was respectful. She never pried for information, even when there was dread etched on my face. Perhaps had she not been so kind she would have escaped me.

Ell came from old money and was given the finest education offered since she was a young child. Her wealth and privilege never spoiled her; in fact she became fascinated by how calculating injustices seemed to be in the United States. Had she not thought that science was the key to solving injustices, I could imagine her majoring in something along the lines of women’s studies or political science – perhaps even both. She had people swooning over her all the time at university.

The fact that she was beautiful and a goddess in bed didn’t hurt either.

Ell had a small mole on her right cheek and had dark, intense, hazel eyes. She had wavy brown hair that flowed down her shoulders to slightly above the middle of her back.  She usually wore her hair up out of convenience, both for her general every daily life and her scientific experiments (which _was_ a part of her general every day life).  She had an infectious toothy grin that never failed to reach her eyes and seemed to make whatever room she was in brighter.

Mother always spoke of how about fallible humans were, but Ell was perfect in every way there was to be perfect.

Maybe mother saw it too, because to my dread right after she read my report on Ell she wanted Ell to be recruited effectively immediately.

When I made Ell the initial offer, she seemed skeptical and unimpressed. While I wanted to be near her as long as possible, I was hopeful, for her sake, that she would reject maman’s offer. It couldn’t have been her only offer – Ell was at the top of her class at one of the most prestigious institutions in the nation – in the world. There must have been a plethora of offers for her employment, many which probably offered just as much, if not more than maman could have ever offered her. However, one of the many attributes about Ell that I adored ended up being her downfall. Ell was a minimalist and detested materialism. Ell did not care about money aside for basic survival. All Ell cared about was the science. To my dismay, after meeting with maman Ell accepted the CDC’s offer immediately.

Ell was right at home at the CDC. She was regularly busy with experiments until late hours of the night, to my disappointment, but I have never seen her so excited before. I was content with a fewer hours with her a week if it meant she was blissful.

“Carmilla, love, we are on the brink of scientific breakthrough! Your mother and I are in the midst of making history! Your mother is genius, love, we are using stem cells to—“ I silenced her excited ramble with a kiss. When I pulled back she furrowed her brow and pouted.

“You know I hate when you do that. It makes me feel like you don’t want hear what I have to say.” She lectured seriously. I _might_ have apologized, if she didn’t have a playful glint in her eyes.

“As much as I would love to listen to you geek out.” I said while lightly grabbing both her hand, “ you know the rules, you’re not to speak about your experiments with anyone, even me.” I finished firmly.

“Yes, but if you don’t tell, and I don’t tell, no one will be the wiser.” Ell suggested coyly.

“You should know by now that my mother has an impressive affinity for finding out _everything_.” I wasn’t exaggerating. Maman had found one of her scientists was going to give classified documents to a private research institute and mother publicly vilified him, ruined his career, than used him for experiments. The official records say he committed suicide.

Everyone who worked closely with mother was aware of this story. Mother made an example out of him. No one was curious about what happens to people who cross maman.

“She hasn’t found out about us yet, has she?” She asked rhetorically, to prove her point, but the slight rise of her eyebrows suggested that she was wondering if I knew something she didn’t.

To say I was surprised that Ell and I are still alive, much more that we hadn’t been found out yet was the understatement of the century. I’m had nothing to count on, but maman’s mercy for when she discovered us.

Which is not much.

“You’re right,” I confirmed, “but if she does I’d like to keep her anger with us to a minimum.”

“Right.” She agreed coyly as she took a step towards me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“What would your mother do if she found out her precious daughter was sneaking into her favorite assistant bed every night keeping her favorite scientist awake all night because you happen to be, “she pulled me close and whispered in my ear, “ _fucking_ me.” I shivered and pulled back slightly to look into her eyes.

I laughed as I continued, “Exactly.” I joked before I gazed at her stoically, “Mother likes to keep professional and personal life very separate. I wouldn’t be surprised if she fired you if she found out.” I didn’t mention that termination of employment was the best possible outcome and was highly improbable.

“I understand.” She says and bites her lip. She looks conflicted. 

“I just wish things were different, you know? I want to come home to you and tell you about my life. I don’t want to hide my feelings for you from the world.” She grabbed my hands and kissed my knuckles gently, “I want the world to see how happy you make me.” Her eyes were gentle when she looked at me. 

[I would have had felt less guilty if she hated me.]

I pulled her into me, holding her tightly while I buried my face into her neck. I did not reply. What could I say? The life Ell wanted is not something I could offer her. If anything, I took away any chance of that life. It was nearly impossible for people to leave maman’s grasp once she’s decided their fate. Ell would never have a chance at the life she desired because I condemned her the moment she met me.

“You know I love you, right?” She quivers quietly; I barely catch it, the usual playfulness in her voice absent.

I felt hollowness pulse throughout my chest. I would do anything for Ell, yet there was nothing I could do to fix the wrongs I’ve done to the only person I have ever loved. 

“I do, Ell, I do.” 

___ 

I started going by Carmilla with everyone, including maman (when she would allow it) and William. It seemed like a more fitting name; while it was not my birth name, it was what Ell knew me as and with Ell I felt more like a person than I have in hundreds of years.

Mother seemed to ease up on her surveillance of her “children”, including me. I was able to sneak out of the quarters she assigned the other vampires and I to Ell’s room with more ease and was doing it on a nightly basis. Ell and I were even able to be around each other more frequently during the day. In fact, mother suggested that I spend even more time in the lab so I could familiarize myself with the people working there. She assigned me to watch them whenever she left on a business trip.

Every night I would spend with Ell would make me realize that our fate would end in heartache and dread. Ell was human, she destined to die and I was fated to suffer a fate far worse than death.

A life without Ell.

One night when Ell and I laid in her bed; I noticed she seemed distracted.

“What’s up with you?” I asked both annoyed and concerned. It didn’t exactly feel nice being ignored after sex.

Ell looked at me seriously. Ell and I have been together for a few years. While time had been generous to her, her eyes have aged. There is still a playful glint to them, but there was a cynicism to them that only comes with age.

“We have so many secrets from each other, Carmilla.”

I was taken aback. ‘Is she hinting at something?’ I questioned in my head.

I tried to plaster a smile on my face to quell her concerns, “What fun is there without mystery?” I joked.

I couldn’t risk her knowing what I was.

I couldn’t lose her.

[It would be unbearable.]

Ell didn’t respond, instead turned over and feigned sleep. I didn’t ask her what was wrong with her again.

___

The following morning maman called me into her quarters.

“Darling, how I’ve missed you.” She said to me as she kissed my cheek tenderly.

[I didn’t want her to touch me. I didn’t want anyone, but Ell to touch me ever again.]

I feigned a smile. “Hello mother, how can I be of assistance?” I wanted to get to the point of this meeting. Meeting with mother always stressed me out.

“I wanted to speak to you about your friend.” Maman said nonchalant as she turned around to face away from me and worked her way to her desk. I instantly stiffened.

“Who?”  I managed.

“Why Ell, of course.”

I tried to calm myself. There was only one reason that I could think of why maman would call me into her office to speak solely of Ell. I felt sweat form on the back of my neck.

“She is undergoing intensive experimentation.” She turned to face me, completely stoic. “I’m going to need you to end your recruitment assignment and concentrate on solely supporting in Ell. William will be at your disposal if you or Ell require of anything at all. Do you have any concerns?”

I let go of a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

‘She doesn’t know.’ I thought to myself, relieved.

“No, mother.” I knew better than to ask questions.

Ell was mother’s prodigy and most successful experiment. I started to let Ell confide in me. She was elated to tell me about her experiments and my concern for her overruled my better judgment. I discovered that mother and Ell were working on _very_ experimental trails on “elongated life spans” and “regenerative cells”. After each experiment, Ell would fall incredibly ill; she would often suffered from fever and violent coughing fit for days on ends. While my anxiety would go wild every time mother would experiment on Ell’s mind and body, I was glad that the chances of losing Ell were steadily decreasing with every experiment.

Ell was becoming immortal.

Eventually Ell discovered that I wasn’t aging, but she didn’t ask any questions about my “birth”. I assume that mother told her that I was a creation of science. Ell became even more enamored with me once she discovered my abilities, or that’s what I supposed.

She did ask me a few questions about my background. General expected questions for a vampire—How old I was, what are my powers, what were my physical limitations? I answered to the best of my ability, but regularly advised her to ask mother instead. I feared that saying too much could put at risk of maman’s wrath.

Things were going wonderfully, especially since Ell and I sensed our relationship become more open and honest. Ell would tease me about the fact that normal people fall in love in their teens, but it took me hundreds of years to fall in love with someone.

[What can I say? I’m a late bloomer. I don’t take to people easily.]

I no longer concerned myself with whether or not Ell would accept my vampirism. Although she did not know exactly what I was, she knew enough to know that I was an anomaly. I don’t recall a time I had ever been so happy as those last few months with Ell.

I was naïve enough to think it would last forever.

___

Will POV

Things were better for all of us before Carmilla met Ell. Carmilla never was an entirely compassionate person. She was always aggressive, but Carmilla and I looked out for each other. Sometimes mother would get _moody_ and Carmilla would act out, but we were generally happy.

It’s not like mother _wanted_ to lock Carmilla up. Carmilla brought it on herself. Mother just wants to love us, and to be loved in return. She deserved to be loved for everything she gave us. She is the only person who really loved us.  It truly baffled me that Carmilla didn’t understand how much mother had sacrificed for us—for her. Mother loved me, but the way mother loved Carmilla is at a completely different level. Carmilla was mother’s prodigy child, her greatest creation, and her diamond. Mother was fascinated by Carmilla’s abilities, transformations, and intellect.

Really, I could never compare.

It’s almost comical, how unjust the situation was. I would have done anything for mother, but somehow I was never good enough for her. I was incomplete. I was a mistake.

I understood my place, though. I admit that I was bitter that Carmilla was the favorite, but it did not dim my love for Carmilla. Maman was my creator, but Carmilla was someone who I grew to care for over the centuries. I was created about a century after Carmilla. I tended to make a lot of mistakes; I would lose girls for a variety of reasons. Carmilla usually scoffed at me when this happened, but she never told mother. Surprisingly, while Carmilla would mock me for my failures, she would fix my mistakes. Nonetheless, she would never assist me without letting me know I was a “useless mama’s boy”, as she would put it. While we fought like cats and dogs, I loved her like she was my blood sister.

[That’s why I had to tell mother about Carmilla’s escape plan.]

Mother was experimenting on Ell and they were becoming increasingly more dangerous. Mother trusted in me, and as such she told me about the intricacies and dangers of her experiments. I was quite surprised Ell survived as long as she did.

One afternoon after I reported my progress with the most recent recruits, mother confided in me that it is likely I would not be seeing Ell again.

Feeling brave, I asked why. Ell has been the most loyal human we had ever had. I was skeptical that she did something to anger mother enough to dispose of her.

“The newest experiment has a very slim chance of survival. As of now, no subject has survived, although I have high hopes for Ell, I stay realistic. I tell you only so you can remove any attachments you have, I know you’re quite fond of Ell.”

I was distressed. I had come to think of Ell as a friend, but there was nothing I could do. Mother’s word was final.

“When?”

Mother looked at me incredulously. She must have been surprised by how daring I was that day. To be honest, I don’t know what possessed me to ask so many questions. I had been scolded and punished many times for my accidental insolence.  
  
‘Stupid, so _stupid_.’ I lectured myself internally.

 However, despite her expression, mother answered me, “The experiment is scheduled for two weeks from today.”

___

The following day, I was still distressed about Ell’s inevitable death. Since turning, I had never lost someone I cared for. I did not know how to process those feelings so I decided that maybe if I filled myself with liquor I wouldn’t feel so empty. I bought Carmilla’s favorite champagne in hopes she would join me in my hopeless endeavor. Carmilla was also incredibly close to Ell, while I doubted she was as depressed as I was, she wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to drink.

‘Nothing like drowning your sorrows in alcohol.’ I thought to myself as I approached Carmilla’s quarters.

While Carmilla scowled about ‘her privacy’ when I entered her room, she was pleasantly surprised that I came baring her favorite drink.

After a few drinks the environment was light and friendly. We were sitting two wooden chairs around a small round wooden table. Carmilla kept poking fun at me because I had ‘brought red cups to drink _champagne_ ’ which was ‘unsurprisingly typical for an _uncivilized dog_ ’ like myself. I had almost forgotten my depression before Carmilla reminded me.

“So Mama’s boy” she teased while leaning in closer to me, “to what do I owe the occasion? You know better than I do that this a clear breach of mother’s rules.”

My smile fell. Carmilla seemed to be handling the situation well.  I was embarrassed I had to turn to alcohol to drown my sorrows.

“I don’t want to think about what’s going to happen to Ell.” I responded with a sad smile.

She stilled, “What do you mean, ‘What’s going to happen to Ell’?”

I looked at her puzzled. ‘She has to know, right? If not mother, Ell would have told her.’ I thought to myself.

“Mother is preparing her for an experiment that will most certainly take her life.” I replied somberly.

Her smile fell and her body tensed. “ _Fuck_ you, Will.” She spat, “That’s not funny, you mongrel .”

“I wish I was joking, Kitty.” I replied with apprehension. This was not the reaction I was expecting.

Suddenly, Carmilla had me pushed against the wall pressing against my chest painfully with one hand and gripping tightly against my throat with the other. “ _William_ ”, she stressed as her grip tightened, “if you’re trying to fool me, I’ll make you regret the day you were created.” I felt two of my ribs crack as she pushed into me. I gasped in agony.

“I’m telling the truth! Mother told me herself!” Her eyes flicked

“Does Ell know?” She let me go and turned around while beginning her right hand through her hair, stopping to face the wall. Her stance was pensive.

“I’m not sure, I assume to an extent, she must.”

She turned to face me. “What are her chances at survival?” She asked as her body stilled. Her hand was half way through her hair. I would have laughed at how ridiculous she looked had the discussion been so somber.

I looked at anything, but her. “Why does this matter so much to you? She just a human, there are literally billions of them –. ”

“What are her chances of survival?!” She exclaimed, completely livid. I could sense her aggression coming back.

“No one has survived this experiment before.” I answered directly.

Any light in Carmilla’s eyes completely left. The comfortable environment long gone, replaced with one of desperation. Carmilla’s jaw tightened and her muscled tensed. She bit her lips and clenched her fists before she went completely livid.

Carmilla grabbed the chairs we were sitting on and slammed them against the wall, completely shattering them. She grabbed her mattress and sheets and tossed them across her room. As she prepared to toss her bedframe into the wall, I grabbed her forcefully. I made her face me. Her face was filled with rage and desperation. She glared at me as if she was about to kill me at any second.

“Carmilla—Carmilla! Calm yourself, mother will either send someone or come in here herself!” All the rage that encompassed her expression was replaced with emptiness.

She fell apart in my arms. That was the first time Carmilla ever embraced me. She looked so _hopeless_. I didn’t know what to say. This was not the Carmilla I knew. Carmilla was strong. Carmilla was uncaring. Carmilla followed the rules.

Carmilla did not fall in love. She could not have fallen in love.

Once she calmed slightly, she pulled herself to be arms length away from me. She stared at me intensely, seemingly looking for something in me.

“I can’t let her die, Will.”

“Why?” I knew the answer. I could read it on her face, by how emotional she was, but I couldn’t believe it. Carmilla was not naïve. She knew what would happen.

“I love her.” I stared at her incredulously. My arms fell from her sides. She turned away from me.

‘Why would you do this to yourself?’ I thought.

Carmilla was familiar with the rules. No attachments, no exceptions.

Carmilla was pacing back and forth in her room. She ran her hand through her hair frantically and roughly, as if she could just get her hair out of her line of vision she could see a solution to this situation. After was felt like an eternity, she stopped, facing away form me.

“William”, She said an in eerily calm voice. “I have never asked you for anything.” She turned to me, tears streaming down her face. I felt in ache in my chest as I looked upon her. She wiped her eyes and looked me dead in the eye as she finished, “But I beg you, please help me save her. I did this to her. I need to fix this.”

What she asked of me could get us both killed. “Carmilla, I—“ She must have read the hesitation on my face, because she interrupted me to beg.

“ _Please_ , Will.” She exasperated.

She looked so determined that I knew even if I didn’t agree she would try anyway.

[She’s my sister, how could I deny her?]

I gave her a soft smile, “Okay.”

She smiled at me like she had just gotten life saving news. I felt the ache in my chest dull slightly when she said, “I knew you were good for something, little brother.”

___

After Carmilla spoke to Ell, they decided that they were to leave the following week. Carmilla asked me to sign up for a night security camera shift for the day she was to escape. It was a boring job that people usually did not take seriously. I was there only to make sure no one noticed Carmilla leaving. It would be completely believable that someone fell asleep during their shift.

[No one doubt that the screw up fell asleep during his shift]

I was willing to sacrifice myself for her to have a chance at happiness, as long as I believe she really did have a chance.

The feign sense of hope for her happiness was shattered the following day.

The day after another vampire betrayed mother, left her for a different faction. It was Carmilla and a group of other vampires were responsible for eliminating the rogue vampire. They returned not even 24 hours.

Mission completed.

That’s when I knew.

Carmilla would die if she left.

Even if she managed to somehow escape headquarters, even if she managed to leave the country, live in the woods. If another _clan_ _of vampires_ could not protect someone from mother’s wrath, there was no way Carmilla could survive, especially while protecting Ell. She would be dead within 24 hours. No matter how much mother loved Carmilla, if she succeeded in betraying her, mother would not hesitate to order Carmilla’s elimination.

[Mother could send me; I could have been responsible for Carmilla’s death.]

But, maybe, if mother stopped her before she left, if mother knew the irrational thoughts that were running through Carmilla’s head, Carmilla could be saved. Mother’s two qualms with betrayal were the humiliation and the insolence. If I could remove one of those, perhaps Carmilla would be spared. She would be severely punished, but she would be alive.

As soon as I made my decision I ran to mother’s office, praying for mercy.

___

I watched from the surveillance station as Carmilla walked into a trap. I felt like I was watching a horror movie staring the people I loved.

Ell waited for her with mother.

Carmilla walked in, shocked and distressed. As she tried to approach Ell, Ell recoiled. I could see the hurt on Carmilla’s face from the security cameras.

All of sudden two vampires swept in and grabbed Carmilla. Carmilla frantically fought to free herself with no avail.

She was screaming for Ell.

All of a sudden Ell walked slowly towards Carmilla.

“You’re a _monster_.” Ell scowled at Carmilla.  “You _disgust_ me.”

“Ell, listen to me. I –“ Ell slapped Carmilla, abruptly cutting off her pleas.

I felt heat build in my body. How dare she? Carmilla had risked everything for her. She lost _everything_ for her.

“Ell told me everything, Carmilla. She was never going to leave with you.” Mother spat from behind Ell.

Carmilla was in shock.

“Come now darling, you need not expose yourself to this pathetic creature.” Mother rested her hand against the small of Ell’s back. I listened to Carmilla struggle against the two other vampires restraining her, calling after her love.

I had to look away, the guilt made it impossible to look at my sister desperately try to save Ell. I felt my eyes begin to water when I heard Ell scream loudly in a mix of shock and horror followed by both the loud bang of a gun and Carmilla’s shouts of desperation and struggle, clearly trying to get to her fallen lover.

Without thinking twice or before checking the monitor for what happened, I immediately ran to where they were and broke down a set of locked doors.

The scene I stepped into was tense. Two guards held Carmilla while mother’s gun was pointed at her head.

“Mother! Don’t!”

As I came closer, she turned to point the gun at me. I raised my hands alarmed. 

“Mother, I’m sorry for my disrespect, it won’t happen again.” I said as I gestured at Carmilla, “But she’s yours now. No one can take her from you.”

Mother nodded at me and gestured to the two vampires to let Carmilla go. Carmilla’s arms fell to her side but she stood still staring blankly at nowhere in particular.

Mother approached her and stopped at no more than arms length away from Carmilla when she told her, “Ell is dead, Marcilla. You killed her.”

I cringed in horror as mother suddenly pistol whipped Carmilla’s head. With a loud _crack_! Carmilla fell to the floor. Carmilla was knocked unconscious and her blood quickly gushed out of the point of impact. I rushed to her side and tried to assess how to best help her.

I heard mother cock the gun once again and when I looked up at her she had the gun pointed to my forehead.

“You are correct, William. Grab her. I will make sure she can never think of leaving me again.”

___ 

Carmilla remained contained for decades, and as I watched over her I had to constantly remind myself that had I not told mother, Carmilla would be dead.

It was the only way I could stop the guilt from driving me insane.  Following the altercation twenty years ago mother told me that she had lied to Carmilla. It was one final attempt to punish Carmilla for her betrayal. Ell had planned to run away with her. Mother was in the dark Carmilla’s planned escape with Ell before I made it apparent to her.

She praised me for betraying Carmilla. 

[I have never felt so filthy in my life.]

I never saw Ell’s body after the ordeal. I knew better than to ask.

Carmilla was kept in a large cylinder filled with blood in the middle of one of mother’s many private labs. Carmilla was in a comatose like state, but if I looked closely enough at her facial expressions I could see what types of thoughts ran through her mind while she slept.

She was almost always having nightmares.

One afternoon while mother and I were walking through the CDC together, we stopped at Carmilla’s containment room.

“She’s beautiful, is she not?” Mother asked rhetorically, never taking her eyes off of Carmilla.

“When are you going to let her go?” I wanted to slap my hand over my mouth. I had a bad habit of speaking first and thinking later.

‘I need to stop doing this.’ I thought regretfully.

To my surprise, mother did not react to my question. She continued to stare at Carmilla but her expression changed. 

It was the first time I had ever seen mother conflicted. The woman who I had known to be the epitome of strength and decisiveness was reduced to her feelings of resentment and love for Carmilla.                                      

“I could not bare the thought of losing her again, William.”

Mother abruptly turned to leave the room, I could tell by her gait I was not to follow.

I looked up at Carmilla as well, the stress her of her thoughts clearly etched on her face.

‘I’m going to get you out of there, Kitty. Hold tight.’ I told her silently.

___

I had risen up the ranks of mother’s empire. I was part of mother’s immediate henchmen who investigated and audited all of the scientists at the CDC, especially those who worked on the most secretive experiments. 

Today I had the pleasure of confronting one of mother’s most trusted scientists.

I was sitting in his room waiting for him when he came in clearly startled. 

“Hello, Dr. Jackson.” I stood, “I’ve been waiting for you, take a seat.”

“Oh, hello William, unfortunately I was just about to—“

“I _said_ ” I slammed the chair roughly against the floor, “take a _seat_ , Dr. Jackson.”

He quickly shuffled to the chair and sat down.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, my boy?” He tried to lighten the mood. His eyes were wide with anticipation as he twiddled his thumbs and fidgeted in his chair.

I threw a series of documents and photographs on the table besides him.

“It seems that you’ve been come quite chummy with the Neurological Institute.” I spread the photos out even more to reveal Dr. Jackson meeting with a man. “My sources tell me that you were going to steal data and information from us and sell it to them. I locked my eyes with his. "Is this true?"

“That’s preposterous! William! You of all people know how long I have worked for –“ I punched him in the gut, hard. I felt his bones crack under the weight of my fist. He screamed in agony and started coughing up blood.

‘Oh well, as long as he doesn’t have any visible marks this should work out.’ I shrugged to myself internally. 

“Do not insult my mother or I by trying to lie about this, Dr. Jackson.” I barked at him. “It’ll just end worse for you.” I turned away from him towards his personal desk as the doctor tried to calm his coughs and steady his breaths.

I started peaking through some documents he had on the top of his desk and turned to face him again, I saw him tense up when he saw what was in my hand.

‘Probably more evidence’ I thought, ‘What an idiot.’

“You’re a smart man, Dr. Jackson.” I dropped the papers back on his desk and lean back onto it. “You know what happens to people who cross my mother.”

I approached him to rest my hands on his shoulders and looked him in eyes.  “But lucky for you, Dr. Jackson, I, unlike my mother, am a forgiving man.” I squeezed his shoulder tightly. He tried not to hide the pain he was in from his face, but his body language betrayed him. “We can make this all go away, I just need a simple favor.”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to kill Carmilla.”

___

“Is everything in check?” Dr. Jackson asked nervously.

“Security is maxed out, there is no way to override it except for a path that leads to your getaway car is ready, as promised.” I replied.

“And the mobile surveillance footage?”

I pulled out a small tablet from my pocket and waved it in front of his face.

“Everything is going exactly as planned. Relax.”

Dr. Jackson nodded and turned back to the computer system that controlled Carmilla’s life support. “You should be more concerned about this, as well, William. The only way this works is if they’re locked out for fifteen minutes.”

“But this will kill her right? As long as she’s contained here?”

“Well—it’s never been confirmed, but the evidence points to yes, she will die.”

I nodded and crossed my arms. “Good.”

“You never told me why you wanted to kill Carmilla.”

“Mind your business if you want to get out of this alive.”

He remained silent for an additional five minutes before he let out an exasperated sigh and looked at me. “Are you sure you want to do this William? If your mother finds out she’ll kill you.”

Without missing a beat I responded, “Do it.” 

He gestured sheepishly at his workstation. “Push the green button and the process is complete.” 

I slammed the button, hard.

Suddenly, the alarms went off.

Dr. Jackson was frantic. He lunged for the surveillance footage on the tablet and he saw dozens of security coming towards the lab, headed by mother.

“William! I thought you locked the doors! Not only will we not be able to escape, but they’ll be able to save Carmil–.“

I broke his neck. 

Just as he fell to the floor dead, mother barged in. 

“He was trying to kill Carmilla!” I exclaimed as mother pushed past me and frantically went to the workstation. She typed in a code too quickly for me to catch and suddenly the container opened and Carmilla fell into mother’s arm.

Carmilla was gasping for air all while shivering and convulsing.

“Hush, Darling, hush.” Mother rocked her in her arms gently, “You are safe.”

I’ve never seen Carmilla so scared, so _broken_.

As she recovered, Carmilla was a harden shell of the person I use to know. She had always been broody and aggressive, but Carmilla had never been dark. She refused to build relationships with any of the other vampires, including mother and myself, and seemed to fail every mission mother assigned her.

Mother was surprisingly patient with her. 

Eventually, the tension simmered and Carmilla’s failures became another part of life. While Carmilla still avoided interacting with mother and I whenever she could, mother’s research was doing incredibly well. Mother was attending private conferences around the globe with leading scholars in—god knows what fields – about some type of breakthrough.

In blissful drunken spouts, some nights, mother would embrace me. In between affectionate kisses and gentle caresses she would exclaim that we would no longer need to experiment. That after hundreds of years, mother was on the brink of finally discovering that which she was desperately searching for, but when I asked her _what even was she searching for_ , her face turned stoic. She still smiled at me, but it never reached her eyes.

The only response I ever received was, “In due time, my dear, in due time.” 

It was hard to believe that mother could finally put an end to her experiments. Mother spent more time experimenting than unsupervised pre-teen boys spend on the Internet.

But nonetheless, I knew better than to doubt her.

We were going to be okay, I was sure of it. Time heals all wounds, even Carmilla’s. It had taken a few decades for Carmilla to become stable again, but a few more would surely wipe the stain of Ell’s memory from her mind.

Life would be simple. I truly believed that.

[That was, until _it_ started.]

It was all over the news, and seemed to have no clear start point. The symptoms were always the same. Someone was bitten. The infected person’s wound would not stop bleeding.  They suffered from flu like symptoms until they unavoidably died.

And then they would come back—if you could call it that.

The people who were bitten would come back and bite someone else. The majority of the infected person’s cognitive function was seemingly gone except for the desire to eat, specifically human flesh, but animals weren’t exempt from their hunger.

We thought as vampires, we might be immune.

We were never more wrong.

Infected vampires suffered the same symptoms, but when they came back, they returned with their vampire abilities. 

This made them especially dangerous.

It was thirty days after the outbreak started when it finally reached us.

Mother had just finished sending Carmilla to search for an escape route when the zombies were banging against the front door of mother’s favorite lab.

“William, my darling, leave here with Marcilla. Escape. _Live_. I must stay here and salvage whatever work I can manage. I may die today, but I’ll be damned centuries of knowledge dies with me.”

“Mother, I cannot abandon – “

“This is not a request, you will leave, as you are now”, mother barked as she turned to the barrage of undead banging her fist aggressively against the glass. The glass could have shatter at any second. “Or as one of them”, she finished.

Carmilla returned from scouting.

“I found a way out and cleared out the zombies in the way, but we need to leave now if we have any intention of surviving.” Carmilla spoke quickly and frantically, highlighting how pressing time if we were to escape with our lives. 

I looked back at mother one more time. I needed to convince her to come with us. “Mother please, your life is more important, you can begin again, please-“

Mother grabbed my head and slammed me against the glass of Zombies. “If you do not leave now, I will personally turn you into one of _these_.” She emphasized and she pushed my face harder into the glass. The zombies were growling, pushing, and banging harder on the glass once they saw me. Up to that point, I have never felt death so near to me during my vampire life and have never been so scared for my life, both when I was a human and as a vampire. Carmilla and I ran.

___

Laura POV

I was _super_ stoked to have all of my friends over for the summer. Silas University had a summer start-up investment competition where a group of five students were to develop a business plan for a start-up business idea. 

The competition winners would have their projects funded up to $50,000. 

[Ten grand could buy me the best recording camera on the market!]

So when I picked my four partners, I picked them with the intention of _winning_. Lafontaine and Perry were clear choices. Lafontaine was one of the most scientifically and technically knowledgeable people at Silas University, and Perry was well… Perry. Danny was my next choice. First and foremost because Danny was really organized and a great leader, but also because Danny was _really_ nice and _really_ cute and spending a summer with her did not sound bad, at all.

Kirsch asked to join our team after his last team ditched him. I had found him mopping in the campus café, looking more like a kicked puppy than a frat boy. 

He was originally going to work with his girlfriend, Sarah Jane, and her group of friends (Elsie, Betty, and Natalie), but apparently they Kirsch trying to keep her safe was compromising her “college experience” and she needed space. Kirsch was surprisingly cool about the whole thing, and was totally willing to give her all the space she needed. He was more bummed about not having a team. When I invited him to join our team (much to Danny’s disappointment) he perked up like a puppy who was about to go for a walk.

Kirsch decided to come along because well, as he put it, “What kind of Zeta would I be if I turned down hanging out with four hotties for the summer?”

My dad wasn’t too happy about me inviting a boy over, especially for the _entire_ summer, but once Kirsch and dad sat down and talked, Dad loved him. They seemed to bond over… safety … Kirsch’s parents were also cops for a town over.

My dad was out a lot more often than usual, which is saying something since cops work ridiculous hours. Apparently there was a bunch of training he had to do for the incoming “biological warfare” that was happening.

Except no one really knew what country or group started it. There was a lot of speculation that it might be Russia, or terrorists from the Middle East or Iran, or even North Korea. Heck, some people were even accusing Canada.

There was no real evidence though, because all of these places were suffering the same mysterious fate.

We were in the middle of watching the news when my dad barged in. 

“Laura! Where are you?” My dad screamed frantically. 

“Dad I’m right—“ I stopped out of shock.

He was covered in blood.

“Dad, wait—What—What happened?” I stuttered approaching him slowly. 

Kirsch stood up immediately, “Whoa, Papa Hollis, you okay?”

“I’m fine, the blood isn’t mine.” My dad expressed quickly.

That didn’t make me feel any better.

“It’s spreading faster than anyone could have predicted, there is a mob of thousands heading this way. We need to evacuate now. Everyone go pack up everything you’ve brought.”

I wished we didn’t know what he was talking about. It was the looming fear everyone had.

“What about our parents?” We need to warn them!” Perry shouted back at my dad.

“Call them while you pack. Evacuation location directions are being broadcasted on the emergency radio station.”

What happened next was a blur. I remember vaguely that I ran into a couple of people while trying to grab things to pack into my bag. We had a limited amount of time to pack so I grabbed a small carry on that I hid under my bed and filled it with a variety of clothes and things I knew I would absolutely need.

I went through a mental checklist of absolute essentials. 

Underwear.

Socks.

Bear Spray.

Camera. 

Check, check, check, and check. 

I grabbed my school backpack and emptied it of any of the crude I kept in there from the end of the semester and put in some of my favorite books, my laptop, the complete _Veronica Mars_ Series. I left enough space to grab a bunch of snacks from the kitchen before we head out. God knows when I’d be able to access cookies again.

I scanned the room once more for anything else I would need—out of the corner of my eye I spot _The Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead_ —a Christmas present from the Zeta Bro extraordinaire himself. He thought it would be a funny and fitting present given my family’s need to be prepared for any possible disaster. 

[I grab the book. Preparation never hurt anyone.]

Lastly, I grabbed a picture that lay on my night table. I ran my fingers lightly against it.

The picture depicted a warm day, my mother and father were by my sides, embracing me, as we laughed at a joke I wish I could desperately remember now. It was the last picture taken before we found out that my mom was sick. The last picture before she stopped smiling so much, before she struggled not only to get out of bed, but to breathe everyday, before she spent more time in the hospital than she did at home, before she di –

My thoughts were interrupted by frantic and rushed voices coming from downstairs.

“Mr. Hollis, my parent’s didn’t pick up. Perry’s parents line cut after Perry heard screaming.”

I tucked the picture away before I headed downstairs. The group fell silent as we waited for what felt like an eternity for my father to respond.

“I’m sure they’re fine. We need to get to the evacuation center. That’s where everyone is supposed to be headed.”

“Who are you kidding? We have to check on our parents. We can’t leave without them.” Laf replied, arms crossed.

“You kids have to come with Laura and I. I can’t let you run off, you’re my responsibility.”

“With all the respect, like in the world, Papa Hollis, I don’t think you can stop us.” Kirsch said, crossing his arms. 

I interjected before my father could respond, “Dad, I can’t leave my friends. This is wrong, so wrong.” 

He paused while he looked down at his bag before looking back at me.

“Laura Hollis, we need to leave, now.” He replied firmly.

I immediately stiffened at his use of my full name-- He meant business.

Regardless, I continued, “Dad, if it was me, would you leave without me?” 

My dad’s face visibly softened as conflict flashed across his eyes. He tensed, clenching his fists and his jaw muscles tightening. “Do any of you kids even know how to defend yourself – Besides your Kravis Maga, Laura.” My father stopped me before I interjected.

“I’m a Zeta, we’re basically human weapons.” Kirsch chimed in, puffing his chest in a not-so-subtle-but-trying-to-be-subtle way.

My dad and Danny rolled their eyes in union. He was looking less convinced by the second.

“I know how to shoot a gun.” Danny chimed in.

“Really?” My father’s eyes widened.

“My parents are Marines, they were really into me learning how to defend myself.”

My dad gave her a skeptical look.

Danny crossed her arms and straightened herself up before she persisted, “My hand gun accuracy is 2” at 10 meters at the shooting range, sir.”

To my relief, his skepticism turned into pleasant surprised. He turned to me before he said, “Well I’ll be damned; your friend here has better aim than some of cops on the force.”

Danny shot a smug grin at Kirsch before turning back to look at the group.

My dad glanced at as all before running his hand roughly through his thinning hair and sighed loudly.

“Fine! I need to get more weapons from the police station anyway, it’s in the middle of the city and would be significantly more dangerous for all of us to go.” It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than us, but at least my friends would be able to check on their parents. 

“Stick together no matter what.” We all nodded furiously.

“I love you so much” He kissed my forehead roughly and held me for what felt like an eternity. “You’re grounded for life if you don’t come back to me in one piece.”  I rolled my eyes—something I wouldn’t dare do if he could have seen me-- as I hugged him back.

“And Danny?”

Danny’s eyes immediately shot up.

My dad handed Danny a gun.

“Shoot for the head.” 

___ 

Kirsch was driving towards his house, nervously gripping on the steering wheel. The anxiety gulfing his body was clear as the sky is blue; his shoulders were tight and his back was painstakingly straight. We decided to drive to Kirsch’s house first—his parents are cops so if we were able to run into them they would at least be able to provide better protection moving forward. He also was able to get a hold of SJ and her group – they planned to meet us at his house as well. 

It seemed like before we even finished pulling into the house Kirsch had opened his door to dash into his home.

“Mom, dad? Are you home?” Kirsch ran frantically into his house.

“Kirsch!” Danny screamed after him, “What a fucking _moron_! Those things could be in there—they could have _turned_ his parents!” 

Danny jumped out of the car with the gun, when Laf and I opened the side doors of the car Danny turned us sternly and ordered us to remain in the car.

“No, you stay here. Lock the doors. If you hear gunshots and I don’t come back in 5 minutes, you take this _idiot_ ’s car and you find out how Laf’s and Perry’s parents are. Mine are definitely already at the evacuation center, so don’t even sweat it.”

“But—“

Danny cut me off firmly, “I mean it Laura, your dad would kill me if I let something bad happen to you” she hesitated before she continued, “I would kill me if I let something bad happen to you.” 

I felt my heart flutter and all I could muster was a meager “okay” as Perry reached over me and shut the door.

We sat in silence for what felt like forever. I was too afraid to strike up a conversation, fearful that if we spoke we wouldn’t hear Danny or Kirsch’s pleas for our help if they came. Thoughts raced through my head, ‘what if they needed us? What if they were attacked from behind and couldn’t call for help? What if –‘

My thoughts were interrupted with multiple screams coming from inside Kirsch’s home.

My heart stopped for a second and I was fumbling for the door. Perry stopped me before I could open the door. 

“Laura! We can’t go in there! Danny said to wait here!” Lola protested.

“Did you not just hear that, Perr? They need help!” Lafontaine lectured as they looked at their girlfriend incredulously. 

“We were instructed to stay here, and that’s what we should do. I’m sure they’re fine. They were probably just startled by something. Stressful times can make anyone jumpy, you know?” 

There were crashing noises coming from inside the house, my anxiety increased the longer I couldn’t see Danny.

“Danny would go in for us!” I screamed back.

But before we could continue arguing Danny and Kirsch burst through the front door, slamming it behind them roughly. They frantically ran back to the car and slammed and locked the doors. I felt relief gush through my body as soon as I had Danny near me again.

“Go, go, go!” Danny was screaming as she hit Kirsch’s right arm with the back of her hand.

“But SJ is suppose to meet us at my house! We can’t leave until she gets here!”

Unexpectedly, the doors and the windows of Kirsch’s house were busted open, dozens of zombies gushing out headed straight for us.

Danny’s hands shot to the transmission and shifted the car into reverse.

“Drive!”

___

Danny POV

Right before we were about to turn the corner, there was a large group of people stampeding frantically away from something. We were on our way for direct collision for at least a dozen people.

“Shit!” Kirsch yelled as he swerved the car to the left, startled. He quickly lost control of the car and we spiraled for what felt like an eternity. We were bought to a startling halt when the car hit the side of a concrete building, jolting us forward violently and engaging the airbags.

I turned around to check on my friends in the back.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah it seems like we’re good back here.” Everyone, while dazed, seemed to be all right.

I turned to open my car door, but it was locked.

“Kirsch, unlock the doo-“

As I turned to look at Kirsch his head was resting against the airbag, unmoving.

“Kirsch!” Instinctively I grabbed at him and pushed him back into the seat and turned his face to me. There was blood gushing from his forehead.

“Kirsch!” I slap his face gently, “Wake up, we need to go!” I shook him lightly, trying to rouse him from unconsciousness.

[In retrospect, this probably wasn’t the best idea since his neck could have been broken, but adrenaline makes you forget these kinds of things.]

When he still didn’t stir, I searched for a pulse, but my hands shook so much I couldn’t be certain if it was my trembling or his pulse I felt. It’s not like I care about him or anything, just death is a really horrifying thing. I don’t think I could ever really recover from losing someone.

“You don’t get to leave—we’re in this together – I thought Zeta’s never ran from a fight, wake the fuck up.” I hit him again, harder than I probably should have but it seemed to jolt him awake.

He looked at me dazed and I couldn’t stop the smile and the relief that gushed through me. He may be an idiot and annoying as hell, but he wasn’t the worst, for a Zeta.

“Are you an angel?’ Clearly dazed, his eyes fluttered open.

“Ugh.” My smile dropped immediately, “almost died and still a moron.” I shoved his face away from mine. “Unlock the doors, Zeta Trash.”

As we unloaded ourselves from the demolished vehicle, a large car swerved right in front of us, stopping with a screeching halt.

“SJ!”

Kirsch’s girlfriend jumps out of the passenger side of the car and runs into Kirsch’s arms dramatically and it seems like an atomic bomb couldn’t stop these dweebs from kissing.

I felt annoyance bubble up inside of me—what kind of idiots make out in the middle of the street, in the middle of a _freaking zombie apocalypse_?

I heard a low cough coming from the driver side of the vehicle.

“Um, as much as I’d love to continue this lovely reunion, we really should be going now. There is a herd of zombies coming this way, and the fires in town have made a lot of them… into well… that.” JP pointed towards a disfigured zombie crawling toward us slowly. Its legs were missing and it’s intestines fell out of its body as it tried to drag itself closer to us.

“Creepers look harmless, but they can sneak up on you and really cause a ruckus.

“You call them creepers? Well I guess we’ll need to specify when we’re talking about the Zetas or the zombies.” I shot Kirsch a malicious grin.

Kirsch’s eyes narrowed. ‘Oh, this’ll be good’, I thought.

“ _Listen_ Summer Psycho—“

His car making loud noises behind us as it burst into flames interrupted Kirsch’s retort.

“My whip!”

The idiot tried to approach his car, but almost as to tell him to stay away, flares burst again, completely engulfing the vehicle.

“I spent my life savings on this car!” Kirsch looked like he might burst into tears.

I crossed my arms while I looked at him in disbelief. “Really? You call your car a whip? And you’re like a 12 year old boy so it can’t be that much.”

“It’s called _slang_ , but they probably don’t explain that in Psycho Society. And I’m _21_ , FYI, almost 22.”

“Wow, really got me there, Zeta trash.”

“Whatever, we need to leave, now.” Laf chimes in.

“I-I don’t, I don’t think I can leave her.” My jaw dropped.

‘Is he fucking _serious_?’ I exclaimed internally.

“You gendered _your car_?” Laf probed while raising an eyebrow at him.

Perry frowned, “Wilson, this is no time for jokes.”

“I’m not kidding! The bond between a man and his car is sacred. Ever heard of a captain leaving his sinking ship? It’s unheard – ow, ow, ow!” I grabbed his ear roughly, dragging him to the back of the car with me. “Okay I’m coming! Geez didn’t even let me say my proper goodbyes.”

“I should have just left you there. The creepers would probably just confuse you for one of them.”

“Totally not cool, man.”

___

After we were all safely in the car, we returned to the rest of SJ’s project group, Natalie, Elsie, and Betty. We were bombarded with their discouraging news.

Natalie is an international student and hasn’t heard from her parents since the phones stopped working.

Elsie walked into an empty house with a note that said “Elsie, if you’re reading this go to the evacuation center. Your father, your brother, and I are headed there now. Stay safe. We love you. – Mom”

And Betty? Well unfortunately, my Summer Society sister walked into her entire family massacred. From what we’re told, there were multiple shots to their bodies, including head, and the house was completely empty of anything valuable. Most likely looters murdered them before they even had a chance to try to escape.

JP is the only one who was able to reach their family, but walked into his older brother getting eaten by walkers while defending their mom. JP managed to drag his mother out of the house while she was kicking and screaming, but hasn’t said a word since we arrived.

[The world is fucked up.]

Laura grabbed my hand “Hey, are you okay?” She questioned. I can hear the undertones in the way she asked. She meant, “ _Are you worried about your parents?”_

I smiled at her and couldn’t help but kiss her temple, to which to my delight, she responded by wrapping herself around my waist.

“Totally. My parents are super tough Marines. They’re definitely fine. We’ll see them we get to the evacuation base.” I grabbed her face with both of my hands before I continued.

“You’ll get to meet them, too. They’re not as safety-intense as your dad, but they’re just as cool.” I teased.

Laura nodded vigorously, “Yeah, I’d love to meet the people who raised the amazing Danny Lawrence.”

“They’ll love you.” The way Laura beamed up at me somehow simultaneously managed to freeze and warm me all at once, it was like my heart was a tornado fueled by Laura Hollis’ gestures and happiness and it would destroy anything that got in the way of that.

 [Because I already do.]

___

Things continued to spiral downward.

We move onto Laf’s and Perry’s house as agreed, only to be faced with disaster.

Laf and Perry’s house are right across the street from each other, so when we burst into Laf’s house we discover nothing but large piles of blood in the living room leading out the door… towards Perry’s home. 

When we enter Perry’s home cautiously, gun in my hand we walk into the open concept kitchen covered with blood, guts hanging from the walls like decorations, limbs lining the counter top like they were being served for dinner.

I was stunned.

On the floor, I saw two sets of legs protruding out behind the counter and I could hear what sounded like chomping sound coming from the same direction. Of course, it was Kirsch who ended up falling over a coffee table, clearly alarmed by the carnage, and ends up alerting whatever was making the chomping sounds

To our horror, it was Lafontaine’s parents. Their father had a single bite mark on the side of his face, barring his gums, teeth, and jaw to us—molars and all—while their mother’s white dress was completely destroyed, bite marks covered her body and her torso completely destroyed, organs clearly missing.

Even though I could sense them moving towards me, I was too shocked by what I saw to move. Laura’s screams were met with deaf ears, it was like the whole world around me ceased to exist while one of my friend’s reanimated parents approached my slowly, but surely, to unquestionably make me one of them.

Suddenly I felt the gun slip out of my hand and when I turned I saw that Lafontaine grabbed the gun out of my hand and fired two bullets directly into their parents heads.

They fell back onto the ground with loud _thumps_.

“Wow, didn’t think video games, a couple geometry and physics classes could help my hand eye coordination so much.” Laf dryly stated at they lowered the gun.

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Perry started rushing towards the legs jutting out behind the counter, but Kirsch grabbed her before she got very far. 

“Whoa there, little curly haired hottie, you probably shouldn’t go over there given everything that’s over here, you know.” Kirsch tried. 

“Those are my parents! They’re probably passed out. I’m sure they’re fine—these limbs and blood is definitely not theirs. The zombies probably had a snack before coming here! My parents are type B+ and O- and this blood is clearly an A variety, I became very familiar during my internship with the local hospital. Now if you’d just let me check on my sleeping parents we could—“

“Perry.” Perry looked up at Laf, expectedly.

Laf approached Perry and held her tightly while Perry hugged them back just as fiercely, burying her head into Laf’s neck to muffle her cries. 

“Let’s go, Perry. Let’s go somewhere safe.”

___ 

We sat in reticence as we drove; the glass could be cut by the tension in the air. Laura and Perry were driving Perry’s mothers car directly behind us.

Kirsch was the one who decided to end the silence. 

“Dude, are you—“

“I’m fine.” Laf spat back.

“But you, you know, killed your parents.” I cringed. Tact was definitely not Kirsch’s strong point. 

“Biologically speaking, those weren’t my parents anymore. My parents probably died a few hours ago.” The way Laf spoke indicated they were definitely not fine, but no one pushed more. Lafontaine would process when they were ready, there was no point in forcing grief.

It was all encompassing now.

___

We eventually ran into Laura’s father along with Kirsch’s parents who had two car full of weapons, camping materials, food, and a ridiculous variety of safety equipment that only Laura’s dad would have thought of.

We met fairly close to the evacuation site; Kirsch was in the middle of embracing his parents when suddenly there was a loud explosion coming from the direction of the evacuation center.

We all turned towards the direction of the explosion

“What do you think that was?” Natalie inquired.

“Come on, we need to get there soon.”

Suddenly there was a huge burst of flames erupting into the air, the explosion encompassing at least a mile in diameter.

Everyone knew what this meant.

I started maneuvering myself into the driver’s seat of the car, determined to get on the road before anyone could stop.

Surprisingly, Kirsch was in the passenger just as quickly as I was in the drivers, giving me a thumbs-up.

I turned on the ignition quickly, readied myself to speed towards my parents, but Kirsch’s father slammed himself into the front of the car before I had a chance to press the gas.

“Move! My parents are there!”

“There’s no way you kids are going there, that’s suicide.”

Kirsch’s mom yanked the passenger side door open and pulled him out of the car roughly by his arm while Mr. Hollis opened the door to the drivers side of the vehicle and gave me a look that was mixed with defeat, sadness, and sympathy.

“They might need our help. An accident probably happened! We need to leave now if we are going to be of any use.” I protested. I internally cringed at the desperation in my voice.

I heard a grunt coming from Lafontaine’s direction, “Now you’re starting to sound like Perry.”

Apparently grief does not breed empathy. 

Mr. Hollis ran a hand through his chestnut hair and sighed before he started. “The size of that explosion—Danny, there is no way your parents survived that if they’re there.”

“I’m sorry, Danny. The size of that explosion… it most likely was a military missile trying to control for the spread. If they decided to shoot that off that means…” Laura’s Dad trailed off, as if he was afraid to that truth would make it too real, as if it would be too much for me to bear.

Kirsch’s dad huffed, “Right then, we better get going. We need to find a safe place before it gets too dark.

“What?! No! Summer Psycho’s right, we have to go! Zeta’s don’t leave men behind.” Kirsch chimed in.

“Wilson, we’re not going.”

“This is so messed up—“

“Kirsch.”  I interrupted. Even though I was looking at the ground, I could feel his eyes on me.

“Just drop it.” I turned to him, fists clenched.

‘This is for the best. This is what they would have wanted.’ I tried to convince myself.

Kirsch’s shoulder dropped, the adrenaline seemed to drain out of his body once I spat my command at him.

Kirsch aggressively bumped into his Dad’s shoulder as he walked past him say, “If it was the other way around, Danny would have went to save you.”

I don’t remember how long I stood there staring at the smoke coming from the evacuation site, it felt like an eternity, but it was highly more probable that I stood there for a few minutes tops before I felt a soft hand rest on my arm.

“Hey, maybe they weren’t there? Maybe they were evacuating folks from neighboring towns you never know maybe—“ I tore my arm away from her abruptly.

“Don’t.”

I walked away from Laura without another word. I drowned out her cries for me with the hopelessness I felt overwhelm me. I couldn’t bare her sympathy and optimism. I couldn’t risk hope again; it hurt too much.

___

We eventually found somewhere safe to camp. Kirsch’s mom and Laura’s dad volunteered to stay up keeping watch while the rest of us slept.

I pretended to be asleep inside my tent with Laura for a few hours, sure that she had fallen asleep much earlier. We lay sprawled out with our sleeping bags open, the summer temperatures made it so it was much to hot for us to cover ourselves. Guilt plagued me—Laura didn’t deserve my earlier outbreak, she was only trying to help.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered.

I was surprised when I heard a muffled, “It’s okay.” 

I tentatively approach her; I gripped at her waist and buried my head into the nook of her neck. Like this, I could pretend everything was all right. Like this, I could pretend it was just Laura and I in the world, no zombies, no death, no sadness, just Laura Hollis, a girl entirely too good for this world—to good for me –wrapped up in my arms.

She soothingly ran her fingers through my hair, a wave of emotion crashed into me every time she touched me.

[She’s the great person I’ve ever met.]

“I promise I won’t let you die, Laura.”

___

If we’ve have been keeping accurate record of the passage of days, it should be July 30th.

Roughly sixty days post the presumed death of my parents.

We’ve made camp deeper in the forest and everything seemed to be going a lot smoother than the beginning. We were able to secure a large RV. There was a confirmed rotation cycle for who was on watch that didn’t completely exhaust us all, and the adults were surprisingly lax. Who knew that a zombie apocalypse would prompt parents to actually trust young adults?

 Everything was going swell, if it weren’t for the fact that a certain Laura Hollis, managed to get herself into danger no matter what she did.

Just in the last month she managed to almost set the entire camp on fire, incorrectly package our food (so raccoons got to it while we slept), got lost twice, and accidentally shot JP when her dad was trying to teach her how to shoot.

Luckily for JP, it was just a graze.

You’d think after all the mishaps, Laura would count her blessings and call it a day, but who would Laura be if she didn’t plunge into ever opportunity of danger she could find?

“Danny! You can’t keep me here at camp all the time! I want to contribute.”

“I just don’t see why you can’t contribute here. There are lots of things that need to be done on the campsite! Like, you know, um, being look out! And cleaning and organizing the weapons… actually on second thought maybe you shouldn’t do that. JP is probably still a bit traumatized.”

“I can take care of myself!” She huffed.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t Laura, it’s just that… well…” I struggled to find the words that would honestly depict my motivations and keep Laura calm.

Laura began before I had a chance to solidify my train of thought, “I know your scared after, you know, what happened, but you can’t just keep me locked away from anything dangerous in hopes to keep me safe. There is no such thing as safe anymore, Danny. Even if you were there your parents still would have—“

I stopped her before she could finish, “You know what? Here” I handed her a revolver. “Do whatever you want. See if I care. Go try to hunt. When you don’t find anything and come back injured don’t be surprised when I say _I told you so_.”

I immediately felt dread spread through my body at the tightness of her jaw and the narrowness of her eyes.

“Fine!” She turned on her heels and marched towards the forest.

“Fine!” I yelled out after her.

After about 10 minutes my anger dissipated into worry. I didn’t mean to lash out at Laura, she was trying to understand, but I couldn’t bear to talk about my parents yet. It was too much.

I paced back and forth for another five minutes, wishing for Laura to return.

Inevitably, I sighed before I ran into the woods after her.

___

Will POV

We’ve been wandering around for quite a while now. From the signs we pass it seems like we are in Pennsylvania. We’ve nearly traversed the entirety of the country in search of something we had no idea how to find.

Mother’s dying wish was to fix this mess, but I’m not entirely sure how to do it. I don’t think Carmilla cares for a cure, but I thought perhaps a bit of traveling would let us run into some of our own kind, or at least a station with humans working towards a cure where we could lend a hand. Offer the little expertise we have and protection. If not a cure, at least find some of our own, a community of some sorts.

Surprisingly we’ve passed very few other vampires and the ones we have passed…

Well, let’s say they are even more dead, and even more dangerous, than they were before.

We have been following this rather large, gruff looking man for the past hour as he raids different homes in the area, most likely looking for food and water.

We followed him back to his camp, careful to wander far enough for him not to see us, but close enough so we wouldn’t lose his scent. We picked up other scents as we got closer, excited to have a decent meal for the first time in weeks.

After a few hours we decided to approach their campsite. I frowned when we arrived; there lay sleeping a pregnant woman, two young children, probably of ages two and four, and the gruff man we were following earlier.

Carmilla had rules about feeding. No children, no sick people, and almost always, no killing. While Carmilla has never explicitly stated whether or not pregnant women were on the menu, I believed it was safe to presume they weren’t.

I assumed either a) Carmilla was going to hog the man to himself (which was the most likely scenario) or if Carmilla was feeling more generous b) Carmilla and I would share him, leaving us both still substantially starved, but a little less starved than before.

Which was why I was so surprised by scenario c) Carmilla decides that I can feed of the gruff man all by myself.

“You take him, he looks grotesque anyway.”

“You’re not eating?” I posed incredulously.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Carmilla you haven’t eaten in—“

“I _said_ I wasn’t hungry. Hurry up and eat before they wake up. I don’t feel like slaughtering a family tonight, too much effort.”

“Well if you actually ate it wouldn’t be that much effort…” I mumble.

Carmilla shot back to glare at me and posed sharply, “What was that, William?”

“Nothing."

___

Carmilla POV 

Thirst did not even begin to describe my need for blood.

Coming from a respected clan since my conception, I have never once been even remotely hungry.

I forbade my beef-head brother from killing any humans unless they irritate us. There is no point in wasting a future source of nutrients just because we became a little greedy one night.

The apocalypse brought upon a feeling, which prior was unbeknownst to me, that I hated more than the ethical philosopher Rawls hated injustice.

I was rarely satisfied more than a day or two, at most. Our constant traveling meant that we did not have blood readily accessible to us and the constant exertion of energy didn’t help the circumstances.

The only positive thing that has come from the zombie apocalypse is that I have become particularly skilled at drowning out William’s incessant drabble about “mother’s wishes” and how “our primary concern should be to find a cure, because mother told us to, Carmilla.”

Say what you will about mutts, but to my dismay, mongrels are anything but disloyal.

Feasibly, it was my newfound skill of tuning my brother out that allowed me to hear what sounded like a distant scream.

“Shut up. Did you hear that?” I stopped walking and held my hand out to William’s chest.

There was a beat of silence before Will decided to chime in with his unnecessary commentary.

“What? Carmilla, you’re so hungry you’re starting to—“

A scream rang loudly through air, cutting William off mid lecture.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was running towards the source of the cries, not even remotely concerned with what William would do in response.

Conceivably, it was my nearly two weeks without even a drop of blood that made me so irrational, but I was sure the girl screaming was my Ell. Her screams brought me back to the moment before Ell was undoubtedly executed.

I had a sudden surge of energy burst through my body as I ran through the forest desperately trying to reach the source of the screams before I was too late.

I vaguely heard William shouting out behind me, but knew that he would struggle to keep track of my trail, much less actually keep up with me.

[He was the least of my concerns right now.]

I maneuvered past a surprisingly large number of zombies, but my mind was too preoccupied with my goal to pay attention to the sheer quantity of undead I passed.

That was until I arrived to a large clearing that indicated my mission was about to become a lot more difficult.

There was a herd.

Hundreds of zombies, groaning and growling as they wander aimlessly towards whatever they could devour, towards the direction of the screams, and the person who let out the last few screams were nowhere to be found.

I was overcome by a wave of helplessness, drowned in ocean of frustration. I was so close to saving this person; I was so close to being enough. And although it was basically impossible, the individual’s screams sounded exactly like Ell’s last sounds; this time I could save her, this time I could—. 

I was drawn out of my thoughts by a series of six gunshots, much too quickly to be planned strategically.

What kind of idiot fires all of their bullets at once?

At least now I could narrow the location of the individual in distress by the smell of the gunpowder—while it’s likely there would still be a few zombies still alive, they would be a much easier task for me to deal with than hundreds.

With adrenaline pumping through me, I summoned a flame to encompass most of the large pasture. The process would be much easier if William was around, but waiting for the slowpoke would have meant letting the wandering idiot who managed to get herself into this mess die. Slowly, but surely all the zombies before me were set ablaze, their bodies torched as their gait slowed, then eventually ceased as they fell to the ground, their limbs unable to withstand the weights of their bodies as the fire consumed them bit by bit.

I had to turn up the heat, to make sure they burned completely. I had to be certain I denigrated their brains.

I ran around the enclosure of flames along the trees, following the smell of gunpowder.

Eventually I arrived, unsheathed my sword from my back and sliced through a few remaining zombies that managed to escape my flames. I cleared the area of almost all of the undead, but still had yet to see the source of the gunfire and screams.

That was, until, I caught a glimpse of a girl with long chestnut hair as three zombies piled on top of her before I had chance to stop them, most likely killing the girl.

With lightning speed, I slice through the middle of the three zombies crowns before more damage could be done.

I immediately pulled the zombies off of her, eager to look at the source of the screams.

I’m ashamed to say what I found.

This girl was not dead.

Inevitably, this girl was also, not Ell.

___

Laura POV

I’m not sure what the hell happened.

I stormed off angrily from Danny after our fight (which now seemed ridiculous) landing myself in the middle of what seemed like a _billion_ zombies. I tried to shoot at them, but it took me five minutes of running, screaming, and fumbling with the gun to try to turn it’s safety off only to realize it _doesn’t have a safety_. 

I learned that from almost accidentally shooting my foot off.

Once I realized that, I quickly spun around and tried to shoot at the zombies.

_Click, click, click._

“Oh, crap.”

But before I could become subsequently it became really hot and a gust of fire torched all most all the zombies, except three who happened to sneak up on me, but just as I was about to become zombie dinner a _bad ass bit_ —woman tore the zombies to shreds with her sword.

Once I patted myself over to make sure I hadn’t been bitten I let a long overdue sigh of relief.

I was alive.

I was _alive_.

And this mysterious girl with a sword saved me.

“Gee, I really appreciate you saving me and all—you know from being walker lunch-- but who the hell _are you_?” I stressed the last two words of my sentence. It wasn’t everyday you met someone who could wield a sword, kill a herd of zombies in a matter of seconds, much less randomly combust fire out of nowhere.

I think I heard the dark haired girl with mysterious powers mutter, “God I’m such a fucking imbecile”, but I’m probably mistaken because that would be a super strange thing to say after saving someone.

She frowned at me, without answering my question.

“Well, my heroic endeavors are over for the century. I’ll be seeing you never, sweetheart.”

“Hey—Hey wait up!” I scrambled up after her, slightly disoriented from the exhaustion of running and being dangerously close to becoming a crispy version of myself.

“Where are you going to go?”

“Away from you."

_ouch._

“Is there anything I can do to repay you?” I pressed on anyway.

“No.” She responded curtly. 

“Are you sure? I mean you totally saved my life there… I’ve got a group. We have food and water and basically whatever else you’ll need. There’s got to be something I can help with!” I insisted.

She stopped and turned around to face me, a large smile that didn’t reach her eyes on her face. “You know what? Maybe you _could_ help me." 

My face brightened when she says that. “Yeah? What can I help with?”

“There seems to be this annoying cupcake following me around, brown hair, easy on the eyes. Could you tell her to, oh I don’t know, skedaddle?” She turned on her heels away from and continued her journey through torched zombies. 

“If you’re going off alone it’s not safe. You’re obviously really resourceful, but we are a big group, we could help keep you safe! You wouldn’t need to be zombie killing ultra-badass all the time!”

 She rolled her eyes. “Not interested.”

I grabbed her forearm to stop her, “Just… tell me where you’re going?” I pleaded.

She looked like she was going to pull her arm out of my hand before I continued, “I just need to make sure you’re safe. You saved my life. I can’t live with knowing that you’re not going to be okay. It would be so many levels of wrong—“

“Okay, okay! You’re rambling, cutie.” She gave me half a grin as she looked at me with her eyebrows raised.

 With her free hand, the mysterious girl ran a hand through her curls, gently clutching at her hair when she was at the middle of her crown.

I felt a dull pang in my chest at her motions, but I waved the feeling off to her finally giving me the time of day. 

“Will you leave me alone then?” 

I nodded hesitantly.

I thought to myself ‘To be honest, probably not, but it’s a possibility that I will!’ 

“I left my brother alone when I came to save you, I need to get back to him.”

“That’s really heroic of you.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Whatever.”

I felt her try to tug her arm away, but I held my grip firm. 

“But can I also know my savior’s name? I mean when I go back and tell my friends some random girl in the forest obliterated hundreds of zombies from killing me—and most likely eventually all of them, I need a name to tell them.”

She sighed and turned around to face me with a blank expression.

“You’re not going to leave me alone, are you?”

I smiled at her coyly, “nope.”

She sighed for what must have been the umpteenth time, and aggressively pulled her arm out of my grip and started walking briskly away from me.

Of course, I followed.

“Please, just let me do something so we’re even!”

She stopped so abruptly I ended up running into her. She turned on her heels to face me once again, and grabbed my shoulder roughly; I cringed as I felt her nails sink into my skin.

“So, creampuff, you really want to help me?”

“Yes! I can totally do som—" 

Suddenly, Carmilla grabbed my face and for a split second I was certain she was going to crash her lips into mine, but instead her face nuzzled into my neck and I felt a sharp pain jolt through my body, starting at my throat.

I fall back onto the ground, violently gripping my neck to stop the blood from gushing out.

She wiped the remainder of my blood off her mouth with the back of her left hand.

“Well cupcake, we can call us even now. Thanks so much for your … _help_. I’ll be taking my leave now.” 

But before she could turn around and walk out of my life I heard loud _bangs_ coming from behind us coming and almost immediately after she suddenly fell forward, limp against my body.


	2. You've Got Me Tied Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1: Where everyone is tired of everyone's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential Triggers: Racism, Misogyny

Danny POV

I heard the walker’s cranium shatter as my knife pierced past its skull into its brain. I turned my knife, making sure to completely scramble its insides. I yanked my weapon out of its skull and shoved the brain dead zombie to the ground to continue my scout for Laura.

There was an endless hoard of undead coming from all directions, but Laura was nowhere in sight. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as anxiety filled me, every walker I saw and killed filled me to the brim with worry, every second that I didn’t spot Laura I was overwhelmed with guilt.

I never should have let her leave. I would rather her hate me than let something bad happen to her.

Our fight seemed so irrelevant now.

Out of nowhere, flames emerged ubiquitously, I sprinted as fast as I could avoid being engulfed, trying my best not to be slowed down by the walkers.

“Shit!” I hissed. I managed to burn the side of my leg gruesomely.

‘How does fire even manage to spring up that quickly?’ I complained internally.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I saw a dark blur speed past me. When I turned back towards the flames I noticed that as quickly as it had started, the fire had begun to dissipate.

“Weird…” I noted out loud.

I ignored the searing pain that throbbed in my leg and decided to head in the direction I saw the blur go.

I ended up stabbing quite a few crawlers that remained from the fire. I’d normally maneuver around them, but my injury made many of them difficult to avoid.

I would definitely have to sharpen my knife after this.

I eventually wobbled through enough walkers and crawlers to come to a small clearing in the forest. To my delight, through the trees I spotted a tiny person with chestnut colored hair. The relief I felt when I saw her was like a cold glass of water on a hot summer day.

“ _Laura_.” I breathed.

But before I could call out to her I noticed that she was with a girl I had never seen before. Their closeness was intimate. Suddenly, this girl’s arms snaked around Laura, her head buried in her neck as I saw Laura’s head tilt back, her eyes close.

Rage boiled under my skin, “What the actual fuck?”

With newfound energy I limped towards them as quickly and as silently as I could, ever movement nearer to them elevated the rage that simmered within me.  

However, the closer I approached, the more I realized that the scene I was walking into was not intimate, but gory. This girl was _drinking_ Laura’s blood. Although I was at a distance, I could make out skinny rivers of blood dripping down Laura’s neck from the puncture wounds.

I hobbled directly behind the stranger; readying myself to defend Laura once I had a clear target.

When Laura fell to the ground, I raised my gun and took three shots at the intruder.

_Bang, bang, bang!_

I pulled the girl off of Laura and saw that Laura was drenched in blood; I immediately knelt down next turn and helped her sit up, “Oh my god, Laura! Are you okay? Have you been bitten? What did she do to you?”

To say I was shocked when she pushed me away from her would be the understatement of the century. I winced in pain as my burn scraped against the forest floor.

“Danny, what the fuck did you do?!” Laura shrieked at me.

“Uh, I just saved your life.” I gestured widely at the girl on the ground he was barely conscious, at best, ”This girl was sucking your blood!”

“Ugh, Danny she saved me. She did all of…this!” Laura noisily motioned at the forest, like it was supposed to be some clear indication of anything that had happened, which at least to me, it wasn’t.

“Oh my god, Danny, you shoot her three times, you killed her!” Laura exclaimed. She pressed down on the girl’s wounds clumsily, most likely trying to emulate what she’s seen on television.

“She was going to hurt you! I had no choice!” I point at her neck. “Look! You’re bleeding!”

The girl with Laura’s blood on her face groaned in pain, still unconscious.

“Oh my god, oh my god, she’s alive. We have to get her back to camp so JP’s mom can take a look at her!” She responded frantically.

“How do you suggest we do that, Laura? The fire in the forest completely wrecked my leg and you were just used as a human juice box. We can’t carry her by ourselves.” I didn’t add the inevitability of this girl’s fate, but I was sure Laura could deduce it herself. There was no way we could get this girl help quickly enough to save her life.

But, as fate would have it, as I finished my sentence Sarah Jane, Paul Kirsch, and Mr. Hollis ran onto the scene.

“Are you okay?! We heard the screams and gunshots and came running. We passed a valley of charred walkers—What the hell _happened_?” Mr. Hollis bellowed, eye wide and flashing between Laura’s neck wound and at the fallen woman.

Kirsch’s father shook his head and crossed his arms, “This is why you can’t let ladies run off and do whatever they want. They run amuck.”

My jaw dropped.

“ _Excuse me_?” I spat at him. Of course _this_ is the guy who raised Kirsch.

He shrugged and crossed his arms, “Look, all I’m saying is that if you were boys—“

“We don’t have time for this. She just groaned. She’s still alive!” Laura interrupted.

SJ placed her fore and middle fingers to her throat, searching for a pulse. After a beat she tentatively met Laura’s eyes, “Laura, I’m so sorry, but there’s no pulse.”

Laura’s face drained of blood and she lowered herself to the girl who lay on the floor, barely conscious. She shook her forcefully while clamored, “That’s not possible! Hey! Wake up you stupid blood-sucking leech! There’s no way you did all that just to _die_ from just a few bullets!”

‘ _Just_ a few bullets? Really?’ I thought incredulously.

Kirsch’s father rolled his eyes, “Yeah, why don’t you just tell her to walk it off, Hollis.”

“ _Paul_.” Laura’s father threatened.

Laura pressed against the girl’s wounds once more and spurred a response, “urgh!” She moaned.

“See! She’s still alive!” Laura triumphed.

“I was so sure…” SJ trailed off.

“Why is there blood on her mouth? Why is there blood on your neck?” Laura’s father inquired.

“Um, look we don’t have time for that! We need to get her back to camp ASAP if we have any chance of keeping her alive.” Laura evaded.

Laura’s father removed his shirt and his belt, leaving him in a white undershirt. He then tied both objects to the bullet wound on her arm, most likely to apply pressure to the wound. Once finished, he scooped her up in his arms wedding style. She groaned in response, her wounds aggravated by the movements of her body.

“Shhh, you’re okay. It’s going to be okay.” Mr. Hollis comforted.

Her eyebrows furrowed subconsciously, but she stopped muttering audible sounds of pain.

We shuffled back to camp as fast as we could; Laura’s father carrying the girl I shot and I lamentably used Paul as a crutch.

SJ ran ahead to alert JP’s mom, Maria, to prepare for medical care. JP’s mother was a nurse before the apocalypse began and had extensive experience in emergency rooms. When we arrived at camp everyone anxiously awaited us, clearly perplexed and curious to see the source of all the commotion.

“Bring her here, bring her here!” Maria gestured to a cloth-covered table. Beside the table was a series of medical instruments, many of which, were very sharp looking.

“Ay, Dios mío! ¿Que has hecho a esta pobre niña?!” She exclaimed while looking over the girl with the multiple gun shot wounds.

“What?” Laura bemused.

“She said, ‘what did you do to this poor girl?’ She speaks Spanish when she’s under stress.” JP explained without missing a beat.

Maria made quick work of the unconscious woman’s bloodied shirt, using scissors to cut the shirt in half. However, we were shocked to see that once the shirt was completely open, all that was on her torso was blood.

No bullet wounds.

“I don’t understand. I definitely shot her twice in the torso.” I gestured at her. “I mean look, the evidence is there!”

“Regardless, we need to treat her arm.” Maria decided. “Juan-Pierre, Lafontaine, come here, I need your help.” Maria motioned.

She handed me a wash towel. “Put this in her mouth. This will be painful and I don’t want her to bite off her own tongue.” Shivers ran down my back, the severity of the situation settled in. I did as I was told, Laura’s blood stained the wash towel as I tried to shove it in the wounded girl’s mouth.

Maria unscrewed the top of a bottle of rubbing alcohol before she hesitated; “I wish I had something better for you, Mija.” She grimaced and quickly poured it on the bullet wound.

The girl’s body convulsed briefly in response, the pain knocking her out.

“Hold her still, just in case she moves.” Maria ordered. Kirsch, and I moved to hold down the mysterious girl in case she woke up again.

Maria made a series of quick movements with different medical utensils, opening the wound slightly to the bullet’s extraction an easier and safer task. Sweat beat down her forehead has her steady hands slowly, but surely dislodged the bullet from it’s place in her arm. She let out a sigh of relief as she dropped the bloodied bullet into a small dish besides her. Just as Maria was preparing a needle and thread to close the bullet wound, something stranger than disappearing bullet wounds, zombie herds, and random forest fires. The wound was visibly starting to close itself.

“Whoa… that’s bizarre.” I commented.

“That certainly didn’t happen when you shot me, Laura.” JP queried.

“Mijo, that’s not supposed to happen.” Maria clarified.

I reflected on that last hour or so of my life. A strange girl had, according to Laura, saved her.

[For that, I was thankful.]

[But we knew nothing else about her, and in today’s world, that in it of itself is alarming.]

“Grab her a shirt.” I told Laura. She nodded in response and speed off to her RV.

Meanwhile, I hurried to the back of one of the cars and opened the trunk to fetch a large metal chain; I dropped the chain onto the table next to the unconscious girl with the freakishly rapid healing capabilities. I tried to lift her, the pain that shot up my leg prevented me from doing so.

“I need help, we need to move her to the tree.” I told the group.

“Why?” Kirsch asked. Laura returned and started to help the girl into her shirt, but watched me with a cautious and suspicious level of scrutiny.

“We need to secure her, numb-nuts.” I responded.

“What are you talking about?! She needs to stay here and rest! She was just shot!” Perry countered.

“I’m with Danny here, Perr. Two of her wounds disappeared and the third one is in the process of disappearing now. There is something weird about this girl. From what SJ said, there was some random fire that just appeared and disappeared around the same time they found you all? This whole thing reeks of sketchy.” Lafontaine justified.

“And don’t pretend you don’t notice it, Laura.” I added before she could protest.

“She’s right. We need to make sure we’re safe when she gains consciousness.” Kirsch’s mother, Sandy, added.

Laura looked over to her father exasperated, “Dad!” She pleaded.

He sighed, “Look kiddo, we’ll make sure she’s not going to hurt anyone, talk to her a bit and then let her go.” He explained, “You’ve got to admit this situation is weird. If we don’t do this, we could be putting everyone in danger, Laura.”

She let out a loud sigh and looked over at the girl, undoubtedly conflicted. Eventually, she covered her eyes with the palms of her hands, as if blocking us out would help her see the ethical decision.

After a pregnant moment, she let her hands fall from her face with conviction and conceded, “Yeah, okay, let’s tie her up and get some answers.”

I grinned before I reached over to pull her close to me. I brushed my lips against her forehead lightly before nuzzling into her hair, “Everything will be okay.”

She smiled at me, but didn’t reach her eyes, “I’m sure it will.”

Eventually, Paul picked up our mysterious guest and placed her at the base of the tree in the center of camp. We decided it was most sensible to tie her to a tree in the middle versus the peripheral of our camp so we could keep a closer eye on her and prevent her from both being eaten by wandering walkers and communicating to anyone who may be look for her.

Once we were sure she was secured to the tree, we sat in a circle and Laura explained what had happened in a calmer, more detailed manner. The explanation left us with more questions than answers, but until the mysterious girl woke up we were forced to wait. We decided to disperse back into our assigned roles for the day.

When I tried to stand up from sitting, the pain in my leg was even more intense than earlier, the adrenaline that acted as a painkiller having worn off. My teeth were clenched as I nearly stumbled in my agony, to my luck (or perhaps dread); Kirsch caught me before I fell. He grabbed my waist to steady me, “Whoa, careful there Summer Hottie.”

I quickly disentangled myself and limped away from him.

“Thanks, Kirsch.” I replied sarcastically.

The sarcasm evidently didn’t reach him because he responded with, “No problem, it’s what us Zeta’s are like, born to do. Protect hotties from harm.”

I was too preoccupied with the pain emitting from my leg to properly respond to his idiotic remark. Luckily for me, Maria noticed my pain and beckoned Laura and I to her side so she could treat our wounds. When I looked at Laura, she was seated in front of the girl tied to the tree.

“I’ll stay here with super woman.” Laura pointed at the stranger. “She’s going to want someone to explain this to her when she wakes up.”

I raised my eyebrow at her and gestured at her neck, but she waved me off.

“Don’t worry, it’s already getting better.”

___

Laura POV

I must have dozed off because I awoke to the sound of chains rustling and a gruff feminine voice saying, “What the frilly hell is this?”

After I wiped my eyes clean of any remnants of the sandman I crawled towards the mysterious girl.

“Hey, hey, calm down, you’re okay. You’re safe.” I comforted.

“I’m okay?” she laughed and tossed her head back. “I’m _safe_.” She spat through clenched teeth. “This is what you call safe? I’m in _chains_ , pipsqueak.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re like an inch taller than me.”

She ignored my protest. “Let me go, you dimwits.”

A familiar voice sounded behind me, “We can’t do that.”

“And why is that, Xena?” She had to crane her neck back to look at Danny. I turned to see most of the group had materialized behind me.

“We need to make sure you’re not a threat. You have a lot of explaining to do. How did you do all of that out there?”

“You want me to explain?” She scoffed.

Danny nodded.

“Well, I was minding my own business, enjoying the apocalypse, when a tiny creampuff started shouting and shooting her gun off like an imbecile. It might be something in the air though, since I foolishly suck her out and saved her and as a result all of you, who have no entrapped me in chains for no good reason.”

“You bit me!” I argued.

“Technicalities. You asked how you could help me. You helped.” She shrugged.

“If you want us to let you go, you’re going to need to explain everything.” My dad demanded.

She pondered my father’s request for a moment before responding with a heavy sigh of annoyance, “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Well for starters, who the hell are you?” I chimed in.

She shot me a grin that sent shivers down my spine, “I’m Carmilla, sweetheart.”

“And how do you have those powers?” I pressed.

She rolled her eyes, “There’s not point in explaining. You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“We live in a world with zombies. Try us.” Lafontaine added.

“I’m a vampire.” Carmilla responded nonchalantly.

Skepticism hit us like a ton of bricks. We bantered back and forth about whether or not Carmilla was lying, and ultimately decided to humor the possibility.

We had no other logical explanation for super strength, the power to spontaneously combust area’s around her, and regenerative healing abilities.

“So what _are_ your powers?” Lafontaine asked.

“You saw them; heightened senses, speed, strength. Looks like Clifford over here found out the hard way I can turn up the heat.” Carmilla nodded in Danny’s direction.

Danny’s eyes narrowed.

“Well since I answered your questions, mind letting me go? Like I told the creampuff, I have a brother waiting for me. He gets antsy when I’m gone for too long.” She grinned like she was telling an inside joke.

“How do we know you won’t get your vampire friends, come back and drink us all dry?” Danny questioned.

“Do I strike you as the type who plays well with others?” She glared at Danny.

“We can’t let her go.” Paul decided.

Carmilla rolled her eyes and threw her head back against the tree in the process, “If I meant you harm wouldn’t I just light you all on fire like I did to that herd?”

“Well, then there would be no one to untie you and you’d definitely be zombie chow.” Lafontaine deducted, “It’s actually in your best interest to keep us alive, at least right now.”

“Look, there are plenty of other humans to feed from. I wouldn’t resort to coming back here.” She argued, “Besides, the cupcake is a little sweet for my taste. Drinking from her is like asking to develop insulin resistance.” She goaded.

“You’re a vampire!” I shouted.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to kill you. If you haven’t forgotten, I just saved you and tried to leave, but your naïve persistence got us all into this mess.”

I felt my blood boil.

[She is such an ass.]  

“She’s got us there.” Lafontaine nodded in agreement. “Assuming she’s up to something diabolical just because she’s a—“

“--an undead fiend from the pits of hell?” I interrupted.

“I’m from Eastern Europe.” Carmilla debated, “Potato, potahto.” She shrugged.

“Okay.” Perry breathed. “As much as I appreciate we have this whole hysterical vampire thing going on, I think we should just deescalate.”

“Deescalate? She just admitted to being a vampire!” I balked at Perry.

“I know, but maybe she’s just insane and instead of holding her here hostage we should tranquilize her and drop her off far away from camp?” Perry suggested with surprising audacity.

We all looked at her disbelievingly.

“Right, and _our_ plan is ludicrous.” Danny responded.

“Well what other choice do we have? Keep her here tied, up watching her every second?” Perry huffed as she crossed her arms.

“We can’t let her go.” Laf sighed.

“Well we can’t leave her like this!” Perry argued.

“Look, why don’t we take some time and think this over. She’s not going to hurt us as she is.” My dad suggested.

Since disagreement was inevitable, we tabled the conversation to another time. Eventually, the group dissipated and it was just Carmilla and I left. The awkward tension between grew heavier as time dragged on, so I tried to strike up a conversation, “I’m Laura, in case you were wondering.”

“Fascinating, cupcake. I wasn’t.”

___

The days following I continued my attempts to engage Carmilla and quickly discovered she was _insufferable_. Every bit of information I gathered about her, which was few and far in between, was accompanied by ‘ _you’re so naïve, cupcake’_ or _‘that’s just how the world works, sweetheart’_.Although my father had instilled the value of patience in me, I had a giant urge to shove a sock in her mouth.

I sat on a blanket fiddling with one of the many solar powered chargers Laf built us since the electricity stopped, when I noticed Elsie giggling alongside Carmilla. I was too far away from them to hear what they were laughing about, but clearly Carmilla could be charming if she wanted.

[Just not with me, I guess.]

I couldn’t stop myself from looking over at Elsie and Carmilla snickering away. Over the past few days, I noticed that they were around each other in increasing frequency. When I tried to approach Elsie about what they were talking about or what she thought of Carmilla, she would always give me a skeptical look that I couldn’t quite place and responded with, “Don’t worry about it, Hollis.”

[I’m just really worried for Elsie.]

I willed my eyes away and fidgeted with the solar power charge for my iPod again. My process was interrupted by muffled sounds coming from the direction of Elsie and Carmilla. When I looked up I saw Elsie holding Carmilla. Their position was all too familiar, Elsie’s head was tilted back, Carmilla’s face was buried in Elsie’s neck, tiny trails of red were staining Elsie’s collar.

She was feeding from her.

I sprinted towards them, nearly tripping over my own feet. I pulled Elsie away from Carmilla roughly by her collar and she fell back onto the ground with a loud _thud_. I pulled a switch knife out of my pocket and pointed it at Carmilla.

“What the hell Laura?” Elsie shouted from the ground, startled. She held her punctured neck as she winced in pain.

“I-I was saving you! She was biting you!” I exclaimed.

“She was letting me feed off her, you imbecile.” Carmilla snorted. “Does it look like I could force anyone to do anything right now?” She struggled against her chains for emphasis.

“Maybe you have some freaky mind-control vampire powers! How should I know?” I argued back.

“If that were the case, do you think I would still be here tied up to this tree with you dimwits?”

I frowned, “Probably not, no.” I lowered the knife, but refused to put it away just yet.

“Looks like there is a brain in that pretty little head of yours.” She teased.

I ignored her and turned around to Elsie, who was still on the ground in pain, “Elsie – shit, we should probably have Maria take a look at that, it looks nasty.” I winced as I stared at her wound.

“If you had left us alone, she would be fine. As you can tell by your own marks, vampires have perfected the art of concealing our indiscretions.” Carmilla asserted. 

I turned to Elsie to offer my apologies, sympathy, and help, but she shot me a glare that froze me in place. She quickly stood up and ran away from the scene, clutching at her wound.

“Wait, Elsie! I’m sorry!” I called after her.

“Now you’ve done it, creampuff.” Carmilla chortled.

___

Carmilla POV

I was having a riveting time counting all of the leaves in the tree above me for the 11th time when one of the human males plopped himself down in front of me.

I glared at him bemused, wondering what questions he had for me. To my surprise, and annoyance, we stared at each other in heavy silence, daring the other to speak first.

Eventually I caved, wishing the interaction to be over with as soon as possible, “Can I help you?”

“I’m Laura’s Dad.” He responded curtly.

I stiffened. Perhaps it was the centuries of conditioning that made me anxious around parentages and respectful around those who were perceived as elders, but I was viscerally uncomfortable.

“I’m also known as Papa Hollis, if you prefer.” He added.

I snorted.

“But something tells me you won’t be calling me that. You can call me Mark, by the way.”

I nodded at him with a tightlipped smile, but didn’t respond.

“Why did you bite my daughter?” He asked out rightly. Clearly, tactlessness was a hereditary quality.  

Nonetheless, I appreciated his straightforwardness. I knew the question I knew was coming since he announced his identity. I sighed, “I hadn’t eaten in nearly two weeks, and summoning fire and fighting dozens of zombies can take a toll on a vampire. I was hungry. She’s fine. Clearly it won’t happen again.” I accentuated by struggling against the chains.

He nodded at me, staring intently with a blank expression. I fidgeted under his gaze, curious what exactly what he was searching for, but too prideful to ask. He surprised me with the question that ended the silence.

“Do you want a cookie?” He asked. He maneuvered his bag off of his back and revealed a large pack of cookies that were hidden inside.

“I don’t need them.” I responded tentatively.

“That’s not what I asked.” He countered.

I glared at him.

“Technically no one needs cookies, but sometimes indulging ourselves makes this all a little easier.” He continued, grinning at me from ear to ear. His smile looked exactly like his daughter’s.

“If you’re offering, than yes. I would like a cookie.” I stated.

He moved the cookie close to my mouth and just as I was about to take a bite he pulled it away abruptly.

“If you feed from my daughter without her consent again, you’re going to have to answer to me, got it?” He threatened, waving a cookie in my face.

“Whatever.” I mumble.

“What was that?” He questioned, raising his voice slightly.

“I said, yes _sir_. Can I have a cookie now?” I condescended.

He held the cookie to my mouth and I gnawed it down quickly.

“You’re a good kid, Carmilla. I can tell.” He beamed at me.

“I’m nearly 300 years your senior. If anyone is the child here, it certainly isn’t me.” I lectured.

He raised his right eyebrow and shook his head while he chuckled. “Cheeky, but definitely a good kid.”

“You don’t even know me. I bit your daughter.” I argued.

“Yeah, but I’m a pretty good judge of character.” He smiled and his eyes visibly softened, “And I know you won’t do it again.”

He stood up and ruffled my hair as he walked past me. I huffed, trying to blow my hair back into a more comfortable position. I turned my head to scowl at him as he left.

“See you later, Kiddo.” He called.

___

Laura POV

I was in the RV with my dad as he was cooking beans on the stove. I told him the events of the day that he missed, but mostly my ranting about my earlier condescending and irritating interaction with Carmilla filled our conversation.

“I want you to try to be nicer to Carmilla.” He asked without diverting his attention for the stove.

“What?!” I nearly jumped out of my seat.

“You heard me.” He affirmed as he dropped a plate of beans in front of me. Food was becoming increasingly difficult to come by, thus diversity of meal choices was depleting quickly.

“Sorry.” I mumbled as I filled my mouth with beans, “But, me? You should tell mistress of the snark over there to behave.”

“Laura Hollis.” He spoke firmly, “I raised you to be the bigger person.” Disappointment was evident from his tone.

I lowered my head and ate more beans.

[I hated when he used my full name.]

He sat down across me, grabbing my hands and pushing my plate of unfinished food to the side. His eyes betrayed the tone he had just used, their softness comforting me.

“I just think she could use a friend.” He added. “And I know how good of one you can be.”

“Okay dad, you win. I’ll try.” I sighed.

___

As fate would have it, keeping my word to my father turned out to be more difficult than I imagined.

 “Come on, just talk to me.”

I sat in front of Carmilla for what felt like an eternity trying to prompt a conversation, but all I got out of her was, “ _Go away_ ”, “ _Leave me alone_ ”, and “ _Could you get more annoying, cupcake_?”

“No.”

“You talk to Elsie.” I murmured. “I just don’t understand why you refuse to speak to me.”

“Elsie isn’t the reason I got shot, and subsequently am _chained to a tree_.” She shot back.

I let out an exasperated sigh in response, “Look, I’m sorry okay?”

She scoffs at me, “What exactly are you sorry for? I’m starting to lose track of all the things you’ve done to me.”

I ignored her sarcasm, but continued my apology, “I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions with Elsie, and I am sorry that you’re here and instead of with your brother…” I lowered my head and murmured the rest of my apology, “and I’m sorry you got shot. Three times.”

“Apologies matter very little if you’re unwilling to right your wrongs, sweetheart.”

I immediately perked, “Well! I was thinking—maybe you could help me with something I’m working on and in the process everyone here can get to know you a little better, so we could convince them to, you know, untie you!”

“And what might your little project be, cupcake?” She asked apprehensively.

“You’ve seen me around camp with my camera, right?” She nodded in response suspiciously, “Well, I want to record you to get to know you better! Learn about you. It’ll be fun!”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as a bored expression took the place of her skepticism. “This need of yours to record everything borders the pathological.” She rolled her eyes.

“Think of it as being for posterity.” I tried while I gestated with my camera.

“Posterity doesn’t care. I should know. I live in it.” She argued.

“Alright, well, this is your chance! Convince me and everyone else that you aren’t just a blood guzzling vampire.” I strained.

I expected her to immediately shoot down the idea, but she contemplated my request for a few moments before she asked, “Do you have any more cookies?”

“Yeah, I have a whole box left.” I answered curiously.

“I’ll do your stupid interview if you give me half of it.” She solicited.

“Half!?” I questioned incredulously.

“Consider yourself lucky I’m not asking for more. Half or no dice, cupcake.” She replied firmly.

“Ugh, fine. I’ll sacrifice my cookies… for posterity.” I forfeited.

___

Danny and I were lying on a blanket cuddling for the first time since before Carmilla came to camp. Our legs were tangled, our bodies as close as possible. My head rested lightly on her shoulder as her arms wrapped around me, her hands absentmindedly played with my hair.

“You matter so much to me.” Danny murmured into my hair.

I could feel her thinking, most likely trying to find a way to brooch the topic of our last fight. The reasons we fought were still simmering in the air, still ultimately unresolved. Danny and I were scarily similar, but our needs fundamentally conflicted.

[I have no idea how to fix this.]

The air around us became heavy as Danny stopped playing with my hair. She started to bring up our fight, but thought better of it.

Instead she decided to talk about Carmilla.

“She’s dangerous.” Danny declared.

“She’s not the worst.” I countered.

“We—We need to get rid of her, Laura.” She asserted.

“And how do we do that? No one wants to let her go.” I responded.

She was silent for a pregnant moment, her brows furrowed and her facial expression hinted that she was in the midst of an internal debate with herself, “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do to make sure the people we love are safe.” She finally stated.

I pulled away from her, “What are you suggesting?”

She shook her head and gave me a faint smile, “Nothing, never mind.”

Before I could push for more, she cupped my cheeks with her hands and rested her forehead on mine, “I’d do anything for you; you know that right?”

I ignored the implications of what she just said and smiled at her instead, “Well aren’t you brave?” I teased.

She smiled at me and rubbed her nose against mine, placing light kisses on my cheeks, “What can I say? You bring out the best in me, Hollis.”

Her eyes fluttered closed, as she moved closer to my face, I felt heat rise in the back of my neck as I felt my eyes shut subconsciously. I could feel Danny’s breathe on my lips, but was jolted awake from my daze like state by loud coughing that sounded a lot like “ _gross_ ” coming from Carmilla.

Danny and I jumped and pulled away from each other, both glaring at Carmilla, who only grinned and shrugged in response.

“Sorry, I think I might be coming down with something.” She attempted as a pitiful excuse.

___

Carmilla POV

Mark showed up the next day around the same time, with two mugs that smelled like hot chocolate.

I raised an eyebrow at him, “What’s that for?”

“Well if you behave, it’s for you.”

“Listen, I already told you—“

“And I already told you, sometimes indulging ourselves makes things easier, and being tied to a tree definitely doesn’t seem too easy.” He cut off.

“Well, I wouldn’t need to indulge if you’d just let me go.” I suggested.

He frowned, “Sorry kid, that’s not my call.”

“Whatever.” I huffed, looking away from him.

“But you know what is my call?” He tried to get my attention, grinning.

I waited a moment to see if he would finish his thought himself, but he seemed excited for my participation in the conversation. “I’ll bite” I sighed, “What is your call?”

He waved the mug of hot chocolate in front of my face, “Whether you get to try my world famous hot chocolate.”

“Listen old man—“

“I thought you said I was the child here?” he cut me off, smirking.

I grumbled, “Yes, well, I’ve had it hammered into me that contradicting your elders, even when they are painfully wrong, is poor etiquette.”

“You’re going to tell me you care about etiquette when you ate a cookie out of my hand the other day?” He teased.

“Whatever old man, I’m thirsty. Give me the hot chocolate.” I remarked.

His grin widened, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he lifted the mug near my face, and let me drink slowly.

He studied my face as I drank. I couldn’t help, but feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny. His facial expression was unreadable.

“What?” I pressed once his gaze started to make me squeamish.

“Stay.”

I strained against my chains slightly, “Yeah, don’t really think I have another choice here.”

He grinned at me, “I meant stay here with all of us. Coexist, you could stay in the RV with Laura and I. It’s probably more comfortable than sleeping god knows where every night.”

I considered his request for a moment, having stability would make my life infinitesimally less troublesome. “And how would I feed?” I questioned suspiciously.

“Well we would definitely need to do more runs for cookies, between you, Laura and I, we’ll be out within the week.” He joked.

“Mark, you know what I mean.” I lectured.

He was silent for a moment and the thought of staying here began to fleet.

‘Had he really not considered that I would need to regularly feed?’ I reflected, ‘My feeding had led me across the nation. He surely could not have believed that I could go hunt and still stay with all them, could he?’ I posed to myself.

“We could negotiate that.” He said finally.

“I’m not sure most of your camp shares your sentiments, especially Lauronica Mars over there.” I gestured with my head to where his daughter was sitting very chummily with Danny.

He huffed, his lips falling into a thin straight line before he argued, “Look, why don’t you try to bring it up with Laura and see where it goes? She can be very persuasive, but I’m sure you already know that.” He raised an eyebrow as he smirked at me.

“What is that suppose to mean?” I spat at him.

“I saw you with her yesterday, she convinced you to film.”

“I got cookies, I did the convincing.” I countered.

He tossed his head back and laughed loudly, “Laura’s really good at doing that.”

“Good at what?” I questioned. “You’re not making any sense.”

He placed his hands on his knees as he rose to his feet. He walked over to me and ruffled my hair, again, but it was less irritating than it was the last time.

“You’ll see.”

___

I was trying to take a nap when I was rudely awakened by giggling from two of the most annoying members of the dimwit squad. The cupcake and her lapdog were cuddled up on a large blanket a few meters away from me for the second day in a row. If I could, I would have already gnawed my head off my body and rolled away from the nauseating sight of Jack and the giant being overly hand-sy right in front of me.

I made loud gagging noises and alerted them to my presence, their eyes shot to me, “Oh sorry. I just got really nauseous all of a sudden.”

“Oh too bad, maybe you should stop talking? Maybe exerting energy from talking isn’t helping.” Danny shot back.

Laura giggled in response and I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

“So, she’s kind of intense.” I heard Danny whisper.

“Yeah. You have no idea.” I could hear Laura’s smile; I felt a pang strike through my chest. She continued, “But let’s not get hung up on the jerk-face vampire.”

“You’re totally right! Come on, let’s go.” Xena patted Laura’s thigh as if to signal something.

Laura stood up and walked away presumably to prepare for whatever field trip the two of them were going off to. I watched her as she walked away; distracted from the fact that Danny was approaching me until she towered over me.

“Stay away from Laura, okay?” She said flatly.

I was taken aback, annoyed. “Don’t have much of a choice, do I beanstalk?” I used my head to gesture at my chains.

She ignored our obvious reality and continued regardless, “If you want this to end well for you, you’re going to do what I say.” She threatened.

I ignored her and glanced back at the direction I saw Laura leave, she was on her way back. “Whatever, your owner is nearly back so you better leave me alone before she chastises you for misbehaving.” She narrowed her eyes at me, but said nothing. She looked toward Laura and smiled, relief visibly waved over her body. I watched her walk towards Laura, seemingly forgetting all about the threat she had just made.

I had officially decided.

[Xena was my least favorite member of the dimwit squad.]

___

Later that day Laura approached me with her camera, eager to record whatever vampire knowledge I felt like sharing with her.

“So my useless vampire friend, what stories do you have to share with me today?”

“You wound me, cupcake.” I responded, feigning hurt.

“I’m sure.” She raised an eyebrow at me before she knelt down to start setting up her camera, “So, any tales of vampire bad-assery you want to share? How about you tell me about your family? Or oh! A tale of _long-lost love_.” She said, her emphasis stressed what she was most keen on hearing about.

“Yeah, I’m not going to share any of that.” I chortled.

She frowned, “Okay… well you do plan to talk to me right?” She pouted and crossed her arms. “I didn’t give you half of my cookies for no reason.” She argued.

“Oh yes, creampuff” I laughed, “but I am going to tell you about something far more interesting than my past.” I tempted.

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Her face lit up in excitement.

“Vampire zombies.” I declared as if I were telling a ghost story.

She immediately perked up, anxious to absorb whatever knowledge I had. “Really? How is that even possible? Oh boy, Laf would just eat this up.” She rambled.

“I’m not sure about the realm of possibility, but I’ve seen it. It’s pretty gruesome.” I remarked.

“Yeah, how so?”

“They have the same need for flesh that regular zombies do, perhaps even more so. They’re worse though. They’re smarter, and they’re able to use their vampire abilities. I would argue that they’re stronger, or at least have fewer inhibitions because they don’t feel pain anymore. They’re just as fast.” I explained.

“So if you were a zombie, you’d be able to like, combust things? Even as a zombie?” She asked, horrified.

I pondered on the idea for a moment before I reassured her, “Probably not, our abilities require a lot of mental power that I don’t think vampire zombies have.”

“How do you kill them?” She asked, her anxiety clear from the way her nails dug into her knees, betraying her tone.

“You shoot at their brain a couple times, and then you set them on fire, being certain that there is nothing but ashes left.” I revealed with a shrug.

She nursed her bottom lip between her teeth and played with her hands, clearly deep in thought, “You’re scared.” I observed.

“I mean who wouldn’t be? You just told me that there are things _worse_ than walkers and we basically have no way to defend ourselves.” She exclaimed both frustrated and petrified.

“There is one way.” I insinuated.

“Yeah? How?” Laura demanded.

“Let me stay.” I suggested.

“What?” She pulled back slightly in surprise.

“I can sense them.” I explained, “I am nearly as fast as them, and I’m smarter than them. If I stay, you’ll have a much better chance at survival.” I argued.

I watched her intently as she had an internal debate with herself, “I don’t know what to say Carmilla, it’s not my call.”

I shrugged, “Just think about it. As much as Xena has deluded herself into believing she can, she’s not capable of protecting you from everything; it makes more sense to have more people on your camp.”

“Why would you want to help us?” She blurted out.

“I’ve grown pretty fond of this tree, cupcake.” I joked.

___

Kirsch’s POV

SJ and I were inside my tent in the middle of a heated make out session when I realized something.

[I love SJ.]

I had known for a while, but the intensity of my feelings weren’t apparent until she was wrapped up in my arms in that moment, the synapses in my brain firing off like fireworks as she breathed into me when I explored her body with my tentative hands and my tongue danced along with hers.

I don’t think I could have stopped myself from falling for her.

[Like, I really _love_ SJ.]

She was on top of me, slowly rocking her hips into mine, while she moaned into my mouth. The sound was intoxicating.

[I don’t think she’s ready to hear it though, but when she’s with me, so close yet not close enough, it almost always slips out.]

I rested my hands on her hips, pulling her down as I tried to increase the friction between us. I rolled my hips upward to meet hers; I trailed my lips along her jaw, sucking lightly. She let out quiet gasps in response, spurring me on.

“Kirsch?” She pulled back, straddling my lap.

I sat up immediately; worried I had pushed her too far. “Yeah? Is this too much?” I rested my weight on my arms.

“No, I just—“ She took a deep breathe, as if trying to inhale the resolve to say what she wanted to say, “I just, care for you. I’m sorry if I ever made you doubt that last semester, but I do.” She grazed her thumb against my bottom lip before she pulled me to her and kissed me tenderly.

I smirked into her and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, causing her to gasp at the suddenness of my movements, “I totally care about you too, SJ, so much.” I peppered her face with chaste kisses, trailing down her neck towards her chest. She giggled as I increased the frequency, blowing a raspberry into her neck, “Don’t tell any of the Zeta’s, but you’re like, my best bro.”

“You’re ridiculous.” She laughed, “but you’re my _best bro,_ too.”

I felt my heart swell at her laughter, propelling me forward to kiss her again. Her hands dug eagerly into my hair pulling my face towards hers, she tugged at my bottom lip playfully, smiling into me when she let go. I flipped us over so I was on top, my hands danced around the bottom of her shirt, sneaking up to slowly caress her sides, I kissed down her neck, excitement coursing through me at every gasp she made, ever breath she took.

I stiffened when I felt one her hands rest in between my legs. “Do you want to keep going?” She whispered in my ear as her hand gently rubbed against my crotch.

“I don’t have a condom, though.” I breathed, my decision-making skills started to fuzz as my arousal increased.

“Well you better not forget to pull out then, hmm?” She teased.

I nodded furiously. She pushed me back to take of my shirt and quickly proceeded to remove her own. I fumbled with her bra for a moment before I was able to take it off, thus released her chest. I eagerly palmed her breasts, playing with her hardening nipples with my fingers.

I was too intoxicated in the sounds and feeling of SJ to notice that the tent had been opened, only alerted to the presence of an additional person when I heard SJ scream and push me off of her.

“Oh my lord!” JP bellowed, covering his eyes.

 “Dude!” I shouted, trying to cover SJ. “Can you knock?!”

I could hear JP’s frown in his voice, “Kirsch, this is a _tent_ that we _share_. There is no way to knock.”

“Well can you come back later? I’m kind of busy if you can’t tell.” I tried.

“We have a shift now. Your antics are going to have to wait until after it’s over.” JP paused a moment before saying, “I do apologize, Sarah Jane. Had I known you were here I would have announced myself earlier.” JP turned around and Sarah Jane quickly put on her clothes, to my dismay.

“Ugh, total boner killer.” I moaned as I watched SJ basically run out of my tent.

Once she was outside of the tent JP looked back at me expectedly, “Well, are you coming?”

I felt heat rush to my face, “Uh yeah, totally, just like give me a sec. I need to change…”

JP flushed and his jaw slackened, he simply nodded before zipping the tent up.

I quickly changed my underwear and pants to something more…bro friendly, and headed out to meet JP and SJ. I gave SJ a series of quick chaste kisses before we parted ways and promised to finish what we started later with a smirk. I looked around for JP, but couldn’t locate him. He most likely had already gone to the watch station.

I started to head in that direction when I heard a hissing sound, “Pst!”

I searched around me for the source and was surprised when I saw Danny.

“What’s up Psycho Society?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes at me.

[I’m totally surprised her eyes don’t fall out of her head sometimes.]

“We need to talk about Carmilla.” She whispered.

“Oh yeah, totally. I agree.” I cupped my hands around my mouth, “Hey guys! We’re talking about Carmilla now if you want to—.”

Danny aggressively clamped her hands down on my mouth, slamming my cupped fists into my teeth.

“Bro! What the hell! Not cool!” I yelped in agony.

“I meant you and me, you idiot!” Danny pointed between us.

Before I could respond, our friends and parents shouted back to us, alerting us that they were on their way to join the discussion. “We’re talking about Carmilla now?” Lafontaine said as they materialized with Perry.

Danny rested her hand on her forehead, “Good job, Zeta idiot.”

“How was I supposed to know you just wanted to talk to me? When do you ever want to talk to me?” I pouted.

“That’s why normal people pay attention to context clues, dumbass!”

I stared at her, “What?”

“Oh my god.” She dragged both of her hands down the side her face. When we turned around we saw the rest of our group, minus JP, had appeared.

“What do you want to talk about Danny, Wilson has to get to watch duty.” My dad patted me on the back and winked at me, “You know the other boy over there… his type can be lazy.”

“Dad…” I didn’t really understand what he was implying, but it didn’t sound very nice.

My dad could be an asshole sometimes.

“We need to talk about what we’re going to do with Carmilla.” Danny explained.

“She bit Elsie. Elsie has some nasty scars.” Lafontaine noted.

“That was my fault! I interfered.” Laura defended, pulling down her sweatshirt to expose her neck, “Look! I don’t have the same marks.”

“Regardless, She shouldn’t have been feeding from Elsie in the first place. We can’t trust her.” My mom included.

We argued back and forth for quite a while until Laura revealed what Carmilla had told her earlier. The news of vampire zombies surprised us all, but many members of the group remained skeptical; they thought Carmilla was trying to manipulate Laura. We were at a stalemate; Elsie, Betty, Maria, Laura, and Papa Hollis all wanted her to stay, while Danny, Lafontaine, Perry, my parents, and Natalie all wanted her gone, but the exact details of how do that they couldn’t agree on. Sarah Jane and I were pretty indifferent; we could go either way.

“The way I see it, we have there are three ways this can play out, we let her join us, she feeds off of us, and protects us from the rare possibility that a vampire zombie stumbles into camp.” My dad offered, “Or we let her go and she decides to kill us because we held her hostage for a week.” He concluded, “Or we kill her and up our security so we don’t run into any vampire zombies.”

Papa Hollis shook his head furiously, “We need to cool our heads, let’s talk about this later. This conversation just sprung up, none of us were actually prepared to have it.”

The group agreed that we were too hot headed to make a logical decision at this moment, the information Laura provided too fresh, making us too anxious. My dad tried to protest, but Papa Hollis shut him down, to my father’s frustration.

“We can’t keep tabling this, Hollis. We need to make a decision and stick by it.” My dad roughly pushed past Papa Hollis, enraged that things didn’t go his way.

___

“Dude, watch duty is such a drag. There are definitely going to be no walkers, since Carm-sexy completely charred them all.”

“We not only need to be on watch from walkers, Kirsch. Food and supplies have become scarce, and will only be more increasingly difficult to obtain as time passes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found _living_ people trying to invade our camp soon.”

“This job still blows.” I huffed.

“Agreed.” JP sighed.

We sat in silence for a moment before I tired to strike up conversation again, “So…”

“So…?” JP inquired.

“You’re British?” I posed.

“Yes, yes, I am.” JP answered tentatively.

“Cool, cool. How’d you end up in the US?” I asked as I lay down to relax, no point in killing my back when there wasn’t anything to be really worried about. I looked up at him while I waited for him to answer.

I didn’t realize how much tension had wracked in his body until I saw how visibly his shoulders softened after I asked my question.

“Ah, well you see, I’m originally from the UK, but my parents and I moved to the United States around when I was 16. We moved for a variety of reasons, but mostly for career development and to make sure I was eligible for financial aid here in the states. The universities in the US are quite good, and quite renowned internationally.”

I nodded, “So, why are you Mexican _and_ British?” I asked absentmindedly.

“Excuse me?” JP asked shocked, his sharp tone surprised me.

“Well, your mom clearly speaks mostly Spanish and you’re definitely Mexican so I was wondering why you have that accent, you know?”

“No actually Kirsch, I don’t know. You’re being offensive.” He said.

My eyes widened, I was totally confused. It seemed like such a fair question to ask. It didn’t make sense why someone who is Mexican would have a British accent. The countries aren’t even kind of close.

‘Maybe I worded it weird?’ I wondered. Guilt coursed through me. I didn’t want to be a jerk, it was a totally un-Zeta thing to do.

“You’re right, bro. I could have totally asked the question in a better way. Listen, totally my ba—“

“Not really, Kirsch. The issue here is the premise of your question, not the question itself. Your curiosity stems from the presumption that my accent and my skin color are not meant to coexist. The issue here is that _I’m not white_ ; the issue is that I must not _really_ be British, because if I were I wouldn’t be Hispanic. “

I stared blankly at him, convinced he read _way_ too into my question, “Dude, I totally didn’t think that much into it.”

“That’s the problem with implicit biases, Kirsch. They just exist if we don’t challenge them. Ask yourself this, if I were white, would you have asked the same question? If my mother had a polish accent, would you have asked me why are you white and British? No, the inquiry would be preposterous. So why is it then not the same for people of color?” He stared at my intently, as if daring me to come up with an answer to his question that wasn’t fucked up.

I didn’t know what to say. He was right, I royally fucked up.

“Sorry.” I mumbled. I couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“You should be.” He said, turning away from me.

There was a beat of silence before JP added.

“Also, I’m Guatemalan, not Mexican.”

We didn’t say anything for what felt like hours. I reflected on what JP had told me during our silence, and decided that I needed to try to fix the mess I created.

I cleared my throat before starting, “Thanks, by the way, man.”

“I’m sorry?” JP said, back still turned to me.

“uh- you know, thank you for letting me know I fucked up.” I explained.

He narrowed his eyes at me.

“I’m not being sarcastic! I just, you know, didn’t get it? It’s nice to learn these things. Zeta’s —we really care about, you know, improving ourselves, and becoming better dudes and bros. You taking the time to explain that all to me must have been scary and a lot, I just—I appreciate it. It’s like you could have totally blown me off and said I was fucked up, which I was, but you didn’t. You took the time to explain it all to me. You’re a real bro, JP.”

“I was angry at you. I _am_ angry with you. I didn’t do you any favors.” JP said turning towards me aggressively.

“But bro you totally did!” I tried to convince him, “Okay, think of it this way. So, you know me, I’m in the frat Zeta Omega Mu. If I have a bro I care about, I’m going to help him memorize the bro commandments so he can successfully pledge and hopefully become a Zeta, too. Like, I wouldn’t help some rando learn the bro pledge, because they don’t matter to me. Me putting in time and effort into helping a bro get into the frat means I really care about them, even if I give them a little tough love while they learn. Do you get it?”

“I have not the slightest idea what you just said.” Jp replied flatly.

“Man, it totally made sense in my head.” I whined.

“I didn’t lecture your for your benefit, you understand that, right Kirsch?” JP questioned, tone slightly softer than before.

“Yeah I know, I just—you can always call me out dude. If I fuck up, I want to not fuck up in the future. So that’s what I meant. Thanks for being brave enough to tell me when I’m not being a real bro.” I summed up.

He turned away from abruptly, and I spent the next few minutes worrying I had just made the situation worse.

That is, until he responded with, “You’re alright, Wilson.”

I beamed and pulled at his shoulder lightly so he could face me, “Dude, fist bump of friendship?”

“What?” He asked incredulously.

“We’ve got to solidify our friendship bro, don’t leave me hanging.” I nudged my fist against his shoulder.

He laughed, but humored me nonetheless.

“Dude, you would’ve made a great Zeta.” I decided.

___

Laura POV

As time dragged on, the presence of walkers increased exponentially. There were some nights where watch duty had to wake everyone because of the zombies making their way into our camp. Danny was the first anyone would wake if watch couldn’t handle the walkers. Her weapon of choice was a bow and arrow for its swiftness, silence and accuracy. My dad while skilled with blunt objects was not as fast as Danny. Meanwhile, Kirsch’s parents were trigger happy, ready to emerge guns blazing at the slightest sign of zombies, almost always drawing more just as quickly as they killed the walkers already present.

The increased presence of walkers had everyone on edge. People were lashing out for the petty reasons, hell, even SJ and Kirsch were fighting, and they’ve been acting like the zombie apocalypse was their honeymoon up until now.

But most of our camp took their frustrations out on Carmilla, to my dismay and her indifference. For the third time, we tried to decide what to do about our captive guest. “So given Carmilla’s many revelations, we are gathered to debate the benefits of releasing our vampire hostage, right?” I posed.

“oh my god, Laura. I don’t care how beneficial she said she could be, she’s dangerous.” Danny replied firmly before looking at Paul. “I think we should… I think we should consider making sure she won’t be a threat to us later.”

“Finally a woman using her head!” Paul shouted. Danny looked like she was about to strangle him, had Carmilla not distracted her first.

“I’d like to see you try it, Clifford.” Carmilla spat.

“That’s big talk for someone who’s tied to a tree.” Danny tormented.

Carmilla pulled against her chains violently, “When I get out of here, I swear I’m going to—“

Danny pulled out a gun from her holster and pointed it Carmilla’s forehead. “Shut up.” Danny cocked the gun.

I jumped in front of the weapon; Danny’s eyes softened and she lowered the firearm quickly. My dad hurriedly pulled me away from the scene, his eyes chastising me for putting myself in danger. A lecture was sure to come later.

“Whoa, whoa, there! Why don’t we all take a breather and think about this for a second?” My dad suggested.

“She just threatened me!” Danny exclaimed. She threw her hands up in the air in frustration before letting them fall dramatically to her sides.

“In her defense, you did say you were going to kill her first…” I included.

“Laura, she’s violent, temperamental, and unpredictable. We can’t let her stay here and we can’t let her go. This is what we have to do.” Kirsch’s mom stated. Danny nodded along in agreement.

 I exasperated, “This is wrong Danny, we can’t just kill an innocent person!”

“She’s not a person! She’s a vampire!” Danny shot back.

“She can help keep us safe!” I argued.

“It’s not help if we can’t trust her!” Danny maintained.

Frustrated with Danny, I turned my attention to other members of the group. I pleaded at Lafontaine with my eyes, but before I could say anything they winced in response, “Sorry L, not on board with releasing someone who may eat me.”

“Perry? You didn’t even want to tie her up in the first place!” I reminded her.

“Have you been listening to a word she said? She’s a vampire! We can’t just let her go now. Sorry Carmilla.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m enjoying the entertainment.” Carmilla stated disinterested.

“Clearly, we’re lost without her.” Danny mocked.

“Can we, just think about this for one more day, please?” I begged.

The group turned to Danny, silently soliciting her thoughts. “Fine!” She concluded after a pregnant moment. “We solve this tomorrow Laura.” Danny huffed. “And I don’t want you alone with her! Just because she’s tied up doesn’t mean she can’t harm you.” She stalked away, the group quietly dispersing after her.

“Well that didn’t go as bad as it could of I guess?” I declared.

“Do you listen to everything Xena says, Gabriela?” Carmilla chided.

“Well, I’m still here aren’t I?” Carmilla’s eyes softened and she shot be a gentle smile, before I continued, “Besides, we just look out for each other. It makes sense.” I argued, frowning.

“What makes sense is having me here.” She urged.

I narrowed my eyes at her, “How heroic of you, and you just conveniently get a steady supply of human juice boxes.”

She smirked, “Everybody wins.”

“Yeah well, if not everyone wants to do that plan is a bust.” I plopped down next to her, defeated.

She shrugged, “Suit your self. I mean your options are get eaten by zombies and die, or let me drink from you and live.”

“Nobody is going to die.” I replied flatly.

She exhaled through her nose loudly in response.

“Keep telling yourself that, cupcake.”

___

Carmilla POV

“Well… This is pathetic.” A familiar voice sounded from behind me. I clenched my jaw and restrained myself from grinding my teeth.

“You know, I’ve heard of cat’s getting stuck in trees, but this isn’t exactly what I imagined.” William teased. 

“Keep talking, fresh meat. I’m sure you remember what happened last time you ran your mouth.” I threatened.

“This fresh meat is your only hope of salvation, Kitty.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up and untie me. That’s what you’re here for isn’t it?”

I heard a loud clang and felt the chains loosen their hold on me. I cringed at the sound, hoping that the lackwits who captured me weren’t alerted by it. I made quick but silent work of the chains, lowering them gently onto the ground. I eagerly stretched my arms and legs, cracking my body loudly as I released the tension that had built up for days.

Perhaps it was my annoyance with William that distracted me, but I was surprised when Laura emerged from behind the tree groggily, rubbing her eyes awake as she walked towards us.

“Carm, could you keep it down? You think you’d given up struggling to escape since—“ She stopped midsentence, clearly taken aback by the sight of my escape and my brothers presence.

Before she could yelp for help, Will snuck behind her and put one of his hand on over her mouth and positioned his other hand in an all too familiar position over her neck as he prepared to break it. Before he snapped her neck, I lunged at him, punching him in the face, leading Laura to stumble forward into me. Once she noticed that she was free, she scurried behind me, using me as a shield.

“What the hell, Kitty?!” William hissed while he nursed his jaw.

“Keep your mouth shut, mongrel.” I barked.

“Thank you for not letting him eat me, which is especially nice of you considering—“

I turned to the cupcake, cutting her off, “And you, don’t you dare scream or try to call for help. As long as you cooperate, no one has to get hurt.”

She nodded furiously and gave me two thumbs up.

We were just about to leave when the scientist and Anne Shirley showed up disheveled, clearly having partaken in coitus moments ago.

“Laura, the vampire’s loose, why is the vampire loose?” Lafontaine questioned.

“Perry wait!” Laura called.

“I’ll get help!” Perry shouted as she whipped around.

“God this is such a mess.” I rubbed my temples.

“If you had just let me snap her neck…” William murmured.

“Shut it.” I shushed.

“Lafontaine, I didn’t let her go! It was out of my control, but, ugh, she really doesn’t mean us any harm. She just saved me, _again_.” Laura justified.

Before their banter could continue, the creampuff’s personal hero appeared alongside Perry and Kirsch, barring a large knife.

 “See! She’s loose, I told you she was loose!” Perry announced.

“You. Me. Right now.” Danny threatened, lunging at me with a knife.

I smacked the knife out of her hand quickly and grabbed at her neck, disgruntled. The only upside to this annoying situation was I could feel Xena’s blood struggle to pump as I tightened my grip on her throat. Adrenaline and endorphins coursed through me as I felt the power I had over her.

“I won’t let you hurt her.” She whimpered.

“Not to ruin your big heroic entrance, Xena, but she’s not the one in trouble.” I mocked.

“If you think I can’t get out---“ I tighten my grip on her neck, cutting her off mid sentence.

“I have been doing my very best to be patient about the shooting, and the imprisonment, and the substandard living conditions you all kindly put me through.” I struggled to keep my self-control in check; the urge to break her neck was becoming increasingly overwhelming. “But I am having difficulty remembering why it is I haven’t torn out your _spine_.” I told her as I clenched my teeth.

“No, don’t! Please, Carmilla! Danny’s sorry and she’s not going to try to kill you again! Right Danny? Look she’s nodding, that’s a nod.” I wasn’t entirely convinced she was moving her head up and down rather than convulsing due to lack of oxygen, nonetheless, I let her go.

The beanstalk fell to the floor gripping at her throat as she gasped for air. I turned to leave, expecting William to follow me without a sound so we could put this ridiculous situation behind us. But of course, William, being the dimwit he is, asked me the most ill-timed and idiotic question, “Can I at least have a bite? I’ve barely eaten since you were captured.” He whined.  

I heard a gun cock back and when I turned around I saw Danny pointing a gun at William, still trying to steady her breath from the ground, “Don’t even think about it.”

Before I could rip off her arm, Kirsch, who had been surprisingly silent until this point, jumped in front of the gun, shocking everyone. “Wait, wait! Summer Psycho, hold up!”

Danny dropped her gun while groaning, “What now, Kirsch?”

Kirsch looked William over, apparently using his pea sized brain to create some kind of value judgment on William. We both stood next each other bemused, but otherwise grateful for the temporary distraction.

“My brodar is going off here. This bro is cool. I can tell. He like, beams best bro vibes.” Kirsch decided.

With crossed arms, I looked over at William incredulously and he just shrugs in response. He seemed to be just as confused and amused as I was.

“You must be joking.” Danny accused.

“No, I’m totally serious.” Kirsch looked over at us, as if to double-check his evaluation of our character one last time.

“I think we should let Carm-sexy and her bro stay here, too.” He suggested.

“Really, bro?” William beamed.

I gazed at my brother with shock; I was so surprised by his response that I choked on my gasp, “excuse me?” I coughed.

Embarrassed, Will backtracked, “Uh—I meant, that’s kind of you. We’d like that.”

“Yeah, no dice.” Danny snarled.

“Danny!” whined Laura and Kirsch in unison.

Laura huffed “Can you give us one second? Don’t go anywhere.” Laura put her hands up, gesturing for us to stay put.

“Oh don’t mind us. Take your time, cupcake.” I dismissed amused.

The group huddled up, whispering to each other much too loudly to be secretive. I glanced over at William, who was clearly ease-dropping on their conversation, our senses heightened by our vampirism allowed us to overhear conversations with ease, sometimes even without trying, but I was much too distracted to hear what they were actually saying.

I watched Laura gestated wildly, clearly trying to persuade Danny to let William and I join their group. I couldn’t help, but be amused by her persistence. As annoying as she was, there was something intoxicating about her. She was naïve, provincial, and painstakingly stubborn, yet there was fullness to Laura that I couldn’t quite pin.

When they returned to William and I, Danny was the first to end the stalemate, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if you stay here until morning, you’re most likely dead.” I snorted and rolled my eyes in response, I crossed my arms defensively, but willed her to finish. “So, you can leave now alive, or you can leave in the morning dead.” She threatened. I felt anger boil through my veins as I flexed my wrists and fingers, aching to rip her vocal chords out. The threat was empty, but her audacity tested my thinning patience.

“But—“ I cut my brother off by placing my hand on his chest.

“Alright, Xena, we’ll go.” I lifted my hands in surrender. “But when things go to shit, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself, Sasquatch.”

I could have stayed and fought Danny. I could have stressed the undeniable danger they were in, the danger that even with me, they would struggle to survive. I could have struck Danny in the jugulars, watched as she writhed on the floor taking her dying breathes.

But I didn’t.

The giant had crossed me one too many times with her heroic antics and I wanted nothing more than to watch her fail, to realize, her weakness, her fallibility.

There is something so enticing about breaking a person from the inside out. Although we were not biological related, perhaps mother was able to pass something onto me in the end.

“Is that a threat?” Her fists clenched.

“Think of it more as friendly warning.” I replied nonchalantly She narrowed her eyes, but was silent.

I looked over at Laura, “Try not to get your self killed, alright?” I half joked.

She hesitated for a moment before she ran into me, her arms encircling my neck; I hesitated before I tentatively hugged her back, unfamiliar with this kind of affection.

[I was a moth to a flame for this girl.]

By the time she slackened her hold on me, I was gone.

___

Laura POV

The subsequent days went out without as much of a peep. The initial backlash from the adults for making a decision without them as intense, but quickly died down when we realized that Carmilla wasn’t coming back. Considering the influx of walkers coming towards our camp just days before, it was surprising that they seemed to disappear suddenly. Not that we were complaining. We were all exhausted from our constant vigilance for walkers. Rest was very much appreciated and needed.

‘Perhaps zombies are attracted to vampires and Carmilla’s presence her just drew them in?’ I wondered. ‘Maybe we _are_ better off without her.’

For some reason I had trouble truly believing that.

Although we were overwhelmingly safer and well rested, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being _watched_. My night, though free from zombies, were filled with the image of a dark cat prowling outside of the RV letting out low purrs near the window above my head. When I ask Kirsch, who usually volunteered for night shifts, if he saw anything he would always respond with some variation of, “No way, little hottie! I’d totally see a kitty if it wandered here.”

Approximately a week after Carmilla left our group we were especially exhausted. We were starting to run short on food, so short in fact, that Danny begrudgingly accepted that I should come help on a hunt. Unfortunately, we ended up with a little more than two squirrels and crippling exhaustion to show for our efforts.

Disheartened and disappointed, most of the gang went back to their respective lodgings to turn in early. I sat by the fire, using a slender long stick to play with the dimming embers.

Eventually, I decided that it was time to head to bed and extinguished the fire. I groggily waddled to the RV, excited to greet my bed after a long tiring day, but was spurred into attentiveness by distinct sounds coming from behind some of the tents.

I tentatively approached the bustling, curious to discover what was making the sound. I was certain everyone was asleep aside from Betty, who was on watch.

 “Betty?” I called tentatively. I received no response so I tried again, louder. There was a short silence, but the bustling I heard had increased in volume, the sounds emitting from behind the tents sounding similar to that of an animal gnawing and suckling on a recent kill.

‘Perhaps an animal had made its way into our food supplies?’ I wondered.

I finally turned the corner when I saw them.

Five pairs of eyes stared back at me, continuing to chow down on whatever they were consuming, blood and guts dripping from their hands and chins.

I gazed down to see the source of their protein and stumbled back in horror.

“ _Betty._ ” I sobbed.

I must have screamed without noticing it, because lights were spurring on around me and voices were coming from all directions.

When I ran back towards the camp, I saw we were seconds of away from being _overrun_ by walkers as they drifted into our camp from all directions.

The scene in front of me was one of pure chaos. JP, his mother, Lafontaine, and Perry huddled back to back, desperately trying to keep the walkers at bay with contraptions Lafontaine and JP created throughout our zombie free week. Kirsch’s parents, Sandy and Paul, fired wildly at the walkers, using nearly an entire clip to maim a single zombie. My father was torn between stopping the Kirsch’s from alerting every walker in a 50-mile radius of our location and protecting me. Kirsch struggled to keep himself alive as he rushed towards Sarah Jane whom was letting out a blood-curdling scream as a zombie bit in to her forearm, alerting more walkers of her presence. Danny was shooting arrows and stabbing zombies left and right as she frantically searched for something. When her eyes reached me they were stupefied in horror.

“Laura! Behind you!” Danny called desperately.

When I turned to see the five sets of eyes I expected, I was petrified when I saw dozens and dozens of eyes coming from bodies that moaned and reached for mine. I screamed and tried to back away from them as quickly as possible, but they soon surrounded me.

I could nearly feel the breathes of the walkers as they reached for me in their bloodlust, but before they could sink their teeth into my flesh, a huge cat grabbed me by scruff of my neck and dragged me away.

The large feline dropped me in a surprisingly zombie-free clearing before staring at me intently, almost as if to say, _“Stay.”_

The cat turned on its tail before it shrank and shift. It released a loud roar; in its wake was Carmilla with her sword.

There was a blur of blood shed, weapons firing and slashing, and a large dog like creature running back and forth through the camp. I felt myself feel weaken as my heart raced. My hands and fingers went numb as I was covered by sweat even though I hadn’t moved from where Carmilla dropped me. I was gasping for air as I struggled to breathe through the madness.

While I tried to calm myself, I noticed that most of the zombies lay slain on the floor, my friends and families huddled while Will and Carmilla’s eyes darted around the camp attentively. I closed my eyes in attempts to shut out the world.

There was a series of gunshots and cries of agony that blended together in the humid summer night. Even though I tried to open my eyes to see what was happening, my senses overwhelmed, I was unable to see or hear. I fell to my knees eyes dilated, absorbing nothingness.

I was drawn out my temporary blindness by the sight of Kirsch cradling an SJ’s unmoving body. His face wasn’t visible, as it buried in Sarah Jane’s chest, but I saw tremors shake through his body as if at any moment they would tear him apart from the inside out.

I looked over at Carmilla, she was speaking to my father, but the sounds in the air seemed to mix together, the moans from the walkers in the distance, the cries of my friends who had lost people they loved, the clicking of cicadas, and the chatter of the living trying to survive. All the sounds blended into a low hum and all I could take in was Carmilla.

Despite all reason, I wanted nothing more than to be _near_ her.

My vision began to blur, but I distinctly recall my father and Carmilla beckoning me towards them. With shaky legs, I attempted to stand, but quickly felt faint and lost my footing, my vision was darkening and I could feel my consciousness slipping slowly away from me, the last thing I recall felt more like a dream than a memory. I felt strong yet soft arms encircle me, stopping me from falling and I heard a husky low voice whisper, “I got you, cupcake. Guess I’ll be staying for a while, won’t I?”

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is latinagaypresident.tumblr.com


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